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ZESCHYLUS’ 


PROMETHEUS BOUND 


AND THE 


SEVEN AGAINST THEBES. 


LITERALLY TRANSLATED, 
WITH CRITICAL AND ILLUSTRATIVE NOTES, 


BY 


THEODORE ALOIS BUCKLEY, B.A. 


WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY 


EDWARD BROOKS, Jr. 


PHILADELPHIA: 
DAVID McKAY, PustisuEr, 


1022 Marxet STREET. 


Copyright, 1897, by Davi McKay. 


INTRODUCTION. 





AEscHuy vs, the first of the great Grecian writers of 
tragedy, was born at Eleusis, in 525 B.C. He was the 
son of Euphorion, who was probably a wealthy owner of 
rich vineyards. The poet’s early employment was to 
watch the grapes and protect them from the ravages of 
men and other animals, and it is said that this occupation 
led to the development of his dramatic genius. It is 
more easy to believe that it was responsible for the devel- 
opment of certain other less admirable qualities of the 
poet. 

His first appearance as a tragic writer was in 499 B.C., 
and in 484 B.C. he won a prize in the tragic contests. 
He took part in the battle of Marathon, in 490 B.C., and 
also fought in the battle of Salamis, in 480 B.C. He 
visited Sicily twice, and probably spent some time in that 
country, as the use of many Sicilian words in his later 
plays would indicate. 

There is a curious story related as to his death, which 
took place at Gela in 456 B.C. It is said that an eagle, 
mistaking his bald head for a stone, dropped a tortoise 
upon it in order to break its shell, and that the blow quite 
killed AMschylus. Too much reliance should not be 
placed upon this story. 

It is not known how many plays the poet wrote, but 


(v) 
2056199 


vi INTRODUCTION. 


only seven have been preserved to us. That these trage- 
dies contain much that is undramatic is undoubtedly true, 
but it must be remembered that at the time he wrote, 
Aéschylus found the drama in avery primitive state. The 
persons represented consisted of but a single actor, who 
related some narrative of mythological or legendary inter- 
est, and a chorus, who relieved the monotony of such a 
performance by the interspersing of a few songs and 
dances. ‘To Aischylus belongs the credit of creating the 
dialogue in the Greek drama by the introduction of a 
second actor. 

In the following pages will be found a translation of 
two of the poet’s greatest compositions, viz., the ‘‘ Pro- 
metheus Chained’’ and the ‘‘ Seven Against Thebes.”’ 
The first of these dramas has been designated ‘‘ The sub- 
limest poem and simplest tragedy of antiquity,’’ and the 
second, while probably an earlier work and containing 
much that is undramatic, presents such a splendid spec- 
tacle of true Grecian chivalry that it has been regarded as 
the equal of anything which the author ever attempted. 

The characters represented in the ‘‘ Prometheus’’ are 
Strength, Force, Vulcan, Prometheus, Io, daughter of 
Inachus, Ocean and Mercury. The play opens with the 
appearance of Prometheus in company with Strength, 
Force and Vulcan, who have been bidden to bind Prome- 
theus with adamantine fetters to the lofty cragged rocks 
of an untrodden Scythian desert, because he has offended 
Jupiter by stealing fire from heaven and bestowing it 
upon mortals. 

Vulcan is loth to obey the mandates of Jove, but urged 
on by Strength and Force and the fear of the consequences 


INTRODUCTION. vii 


which disobedience will entail, with mighty force drives 
the wedges into the adamantine rocks and rivets the cap-- 
tive with galling shackles to the ruthless crags. 

Prometheus, being bound and left alone, bemoans his: 
fate and relates to the chorus of nymphs the base ingrati- 
tude of Jove, who through his counsels having over- 
whelmed the aged Saturn beneath the murky abyss of 
Tartarus, now rewards his ally with indignities because 
he had compassion upon mortals. 

Ocean then comes to Prometheus, offering sympathy 
and counsel, urging him not to utter words thus harsh 
and whetted, lest Jupiter seated far aloft may hear them 
and inflict upon him added woes to which his present suf- 
ferings will seem but child’s play. 

Ocean having taken his departure, Prometheus again 
complains to the chorus and enumerates the boons which 
he has bestowed upon mankind, with the comment that 
though he has discovered such inventions for mortals, he 
has no device whereby he may escape from his present 
misfortune. 

Io, daughter of Inachus, beloved by Jove, but forced, 
through the jealous hatred of Juno, to make many wan- 
derings, then appears, and beseeches Prometheus to dis- 
cover to her what time shall be the limit of her sufferings. 
Prometheus accedes to her request and relates how she 
shall wander over many lands and seas until she reaches 
the city of Canopus, at the mouth of the Nile, where she 
shall bring forth a Jove-begotten child, from whose seed 
shall finally spring a dauntless warrior renowned in arch- 
ery, who will liberate Prometheus from his captivity and 
accomplish the downfall of Jove. 


viii INTRODUCTION. 


Io then resumes her wanderings, and Mercury, sent by 
Jove, comes to question Prometheus as to the nuptials 
which he has boasted will accomplish the overthrow of the 
tuler of the Gods. Him Prometheus reviles with oppro- 
brious epithets, calling him a lackey of the Gods, and re- 
fuses to disclose anything concerning the matter on which 
he questions him. The winged God, replying, threatens 
him with dire calamities. A tempest will come upon him 
and overwhelm him with thunderbolts, and a bloodthirst- 
ing eagle shall feed upon his liver. Thus saying, he de- 
parts, and immediately the earth commences to heave, 
the noise of thunder is heard, vivid streaks of lightning 
blaze throughout the sky and a hurricane—the onslaught 
of Jove—sweeps Prometheus away in its blast. 

The ‘‘Seven against Thebes’’ includes in its cast of 
characters Eteocles, King of Thebes, Antigone and Is- 
mene, Sisters of the King, a Messenger and a Herald. 
The play opens with the siege of Thebes. Eteocles ap- 
pears upon the Acropolis in the early morning, and exhorts 
the citizens to be brave and be not over-dismayed at the 
rabble of alien besiegers. A messenger arrives and an- 
nounces the rapid approach of the Argives. Hteocles 
goes to see that the battlements and the gates are prop- 
erly manned, and during his absence the chorus of The- 
ban maidens set up a great wail of distress and burst 
forth with violent lamentations. Eteocles, returning, up- 
braids them severely for their weakness and bids them 
begone and raise the sacred auspicious shout of the peean 
as an encouragement to the Theban warriors. He then 
departs to prepare himself and six others to meet in com- 
bat the seven chieftains who have come against the city. 


INTRODUCTION. ix 


He soon re-enters, and at the same time comes the 
messenger from another part of the city with fresh tid- 
ings of the foe and the arrangement of the invaders 
around the walls of the city. By the gate of Proetus 
stands the raging Tydeus with his helm of hairy crests 
and his buckler tricked out with a full moon and a gleam- 
ing sky full of stars, against whom Eteocles will marshal 
the wary son of Astacus, a noble and a modest youth, who 
detests vain boastings and yet is not a coward. 

By the Electron gate is stationed the giant Campaneus, 
who bears about him the device of a naked ,man with a 
gleaming torch in his hands, crying out ‘‘I will burn the 
city.’’ Against him will be pitted the doughty Polyphon- 
tes, favored by Diana and other gods. 

Against the gate of Neis the mighty Eteoclus is wheel- 
ing his foaming steeds, bearing a buckler blazoned with a 
man in armor treading the steps of a ladder to his foe- 
man’s tower. Megareus, the offspring of Creon, is the 
valiant warrior who will either pay the debt of his nurture 
to his land or will decorate his father’s house with the 
spoils of the conquered Eteoclus. 

The fiery Hippomedon is raging at the gate of Onca 
Minerva, bearing upon his buckler a Typhon darting forth 
smoke through his fire-breathing mouth, eager to meet 
the brave Hyperbius, son of Gnops, who has been se- 
lected to check his impetuous onslaught. 

At the gate of Boreas the youthful Parthenopzeus takes 
his stand, a fair-faced stripling, upon whose face the 
youthful down isjust making its appearance. Opposed 
to him stands Actor, a man who is no braggart, but who 
will not submit to boastful tauntings or permit the rash 
intruder to batter his way into the city. 

1* 


x INTRODUCTION, 


The mighty Amphiarus is waiting at the gate of Ho- 
moléis, and in the meantime reproaches his ally, Tydeus, 
calling him a homicide, and Polynices he rebukes with 
having brought a mighty armament into his native city. 
Lasthenes, he of the aged mind but youthful form, is the 
Thebian who has been chosen to marshal his forces against 
this invader. 

At the seventh gate stands Polynices, brother of Eteo- 
cles, bearing a well-wrought shield with a device con- 
structed upon it of a woman leading on a mailed warrior, 
bringing havoc to his paternal city and desirous of becom- 
ing a fratricide. Against him Eteocles will go and face 
him in person, and leader against leader, brother against 
brother and foeman against foeman, take his stand. 

Eteocles then departs to engage in battle, and soon 
after the messenger enters to announce that six of the 
Theban warriors have been successful, but that Polynices 
and Eteocles have both fallen, slain by each other’s hand. 

Antigone and Ismene then enter, each bewailing the 
death of their brothers. A herald interrupts them in 
the midst of their lamentations to announce to them the 
decree of the senate, which is that Eteocles, on account 
of his attachment to his country, though a fratricide, 
shall be honored with fitting funeral rites, but that Poly- 
nices, the would-be overturner of his native city, shall be 
cast out unburied, a prey to the dogs. 

Against this decree Antigone rebels, and with her final 
words announces her unalterable intention of burying 
her brother in spite of the fate which awaits her disobe- 
dience to the will of the senate. 


PROMETHEUS CHAINED. 


PROMETHEUS having, by his attention to the wants of men, 
provoked the anger of Jove, is bound down in a cleft of a 
rock in a distant desert of Scythia. Here he not only relates 
the wanderings, but foretells the future lot of Io, and like- 
wise alludes to the fall of Jove’s dynasty. Disdaining to 
explain his meaning to Mercury, he is swept into the abyss 
amid terrific hurricane and earthquake, 


PERSONS REPRESENTED. 


STRENGTH. CHoRUs OF NYMPHS, DAUGH- 
Force. TERS OF OCEAN. 

VULCAN. Io, DAUGHTER OF INACHUS. 
PROMETHEUS. MERCURY. 


STRENGTH, Forcr, VULCAN, PROMETHEUS. 


SrrenctH. 1'We are come to a plain, the distant bound- 


1 Lucian, in his dialogue entitled “‘ Prometheus,” or “ Cau- 
casus,” has given occasional imitations of passages in this play, 
not, however, sufficient to amount to a paraphrase, as Dr. 
Blomfield asserted. Besides, as Lucian lays the scene at 
Caucasus, he would rather seem to have had the “‘ Prometheus 
solutus” in mind. (See Schutz, Argum.) But the ancients 
commonly made Caucasus the seat of the punishment of Pro- 
metheus, and, as #schylus is not over particular in his geogra- 
phy, it is possible that he may be not altogether consistent with 
himself. Lucian makes no mention of Strength and Force, but 
brings in Mercury at the beginning of the dialogue. More- 
over, Mercury is represented in an excellent humor, and ral- 
lies Prometheus good-naturedly upon his tortures. Thus, ? 6, 


(11) 


12 PROMETHEUS. [2-15. 


ary of the earth, to the Scythian track, to an untrodden! 
desert. Vulcan, it behooves thee that the mandates, which 
thy Sire imposed, be thy concern—to bind this daring 
wretch? to the lofty-cragged rocks, in fetters of adamantine 
chains that can not be broken ; for he stole and gave to mor- 
tals thy honor, the brilliancy of fire [that aids] all arts.® 
Hence for such a trespass he must needs give retribution to 
the gods, that he may be taught to submit to the sovereignty 
of Jupiter, and to cease from his philanthropic disposition. 

Vutcan. Strength and Force, as far as you are con- 
cerned, the mandate of Jupiter has now‘ its consummation, 
aud there is no farther obstacle. But I have not the courage 


he says, ¢0 2xet. Karanrijcerat dé i}dn Kal 6 dérds draxepdy ro rap, 
OS mravra Exois dvri ris Kadis- Kai ebunxavov mracrixns, In regard 
to the place where Prometheus was bound, the scene doubtless 
represented a ravine between two precipices rent from each 
other, with a distant prospect of some of the places mentioned 
in the wanderings ofIo. (See Schutz, ibid.) Butas the whole 
mention of Scythia is an anachronism, the less said on this 
point the better. Compare, however, the following remarks 
of Humboldt, Cosmos, vol. ii. p. 140, “The legend of Prome- 
theus, and the unbinding of the chains of the fire-bringing 
Titan on the Caucasus by Hercules in journeying eastward— 
the ascent of Io from the valley of the Hybrites—[See Griffiths’ 
note on v. 717, on tfpiorhis rorapds, which must be a proper 
name]—toward the Caucasus; and the myth of Phryxus and 
Helle—all point to the same path on which Pheuician naviga- 
tors had earlier adventured.” 

1 Dindorf, in his note, rightly approves the elegant reading 
&3po-ov (—=-drdvOperov) in lieu of the frigid @garov, See Blomf. 
and Burges. As far as this play is concerned, the tract was not 
actually impassable, but it was so to mortals. 

2 Xcwpyds—padwipyos, mavodpyos, xaxodpyos, Cf. Liddell and 
Linwood, s.v. The interpretation and derivation of the etym. 
magn. 0 rdv dvOpirwy rhdorns, is justly rejected by Dindorf, who 
remarks that Aschylus paid no attention to the fable respect- 
ing Prometheus being the maker of mankind. 

8 The epithet zavréxvov, which might perhaps be rendered 
‘‘art-full,” is explained by v. 110 and 254, 

* See Jelf. Gk. Gr. 2 720, 2d. 


16-34.] PROMETHEUS. 13 


to bind perforce a kindred god to this weather-beaten ravine. 
Yet in every way it is necessary for me to take courage for 
this task ; for a dreadful thing it is to disregard! the direc- 
tions of the Sire.? Lofty-scheming son of right-counseling 
Themis, unwilling shall I rivet thee unwilling in indissoluble 
shackles to this solitary rock, where nor voice nor form of any 
one of mortals shalt thou see ;* but slowly scorched by the 
bright blaze of the sun thou shalt lose the bloom of thy 
complexion ; and to thee joyous shall night in spangled 
robe veil the light ; and the sun again disperse the hoar- 
frost of the morn; and evermore shall the pain of the pres- 
ent evil waste thee ; for no one yet born shall release thee. 
Such fruits hast thou reaped from thy friendly disposition to 
mankind. For thou, a god, not crouching beneath the wrath 
of the gods, hast imparted to mortals honors beyond what 
was right. In requital whereof thou shalt keep sentinel on 
this cheerless rock, standing erect, sleepless, not bending a 
knee :* and many laments and unavailing groans shalt thou 
utter ; for the heart of Jupiter is hard to be entreated ; and 
every one that has newly-acquired power is stern. 

1 There seems little doubt that ciwpiifew is the right read- 
ing. Its ironical force answers to Terence’s “ probe curasti.” 

2 T have spelled Sire in all places with a capital letter, as 
Jove is evidently meant. See my note on v. 49. 

3’ This is not a mere zeugma, but is derived from the suppo- 
sition that sight was the chief of the senses, and in a manner 
included the rest. (Cf. Plato Tim. p. 533, C.D.) See the ex- 
amples adduced by the commentators. Schrader on Muszeus 
5, and Boyes, Illustrations to Sept. c. Th. 98. Shakespeare has 


burlesqued this idea in his exquisite buffoonery, Midsummer 
Night’s Dream, Act v. sc. 1. 
Pyramus. I see a voice: now will I to the chink, 
To spy an I can hear my Thisby’s face. 
* Claudian de rapt. Pros. II. 363. “ Stellantes nox picta sinus.” 
See on Soph. Trach. 94. 
5 T.e., having no rest. Soph. Gid. Col. 19. «dda xdprbov rode? 


én’ atéorov xérpov, 


14 PROMETHEUS. [35-54 


Sr. Well, well! Why art thou delaying and vainly com- 
miserating? Why loathest thou not the god that is most 
hateful to the gods, who has betrayed thy prerogative to 
mortals? 

Vou. Relationship and intimacy are of great power. 

Sr. I grant it—but how is it possible to disobey the Sire’s 
word? Dreadest thou not this the rather? 

Vou. Ay truly thou art ever pitiless and full of boldness. 

Sr. For to deplore this wretch is no cure [for him]. But 
concern not thou thyself vainly with matters that are of no 
advantage. 

Vou. O much detested handicraft ! 

Sr. Wherefore loathest thou it! for with the ills now 
present thy craft in good truth is not at all chargeable. 

Vou. For all that, I would that some other had obtained 
this. 

Sr. Every thing has been achieved except for the gods to 
rule ; for no one is free save Jupiter. 

Vou. I know it—and I have nothing to say against it.? 

Sr. Wilt thou not then bestir thyself to cast fetters about 
this wretch, that the Sire may not espy thee loitering? 

Vou. Ay, and in truth you may see the manacles ready. 


1 The difficulties of this passage have been increased by no 
one of the commentators perceiving the evident opposition be- 
tween Ocoit and Zeés. As in the formula & Zed xai Ocoi (cf. Plato 
Protag. p. 193, E.; Aristoph. Plut. I. with Bergler’s note; Ju- 
lian Cees. p. 51, 59, 76; Dionys. Hal. A. R. II. p. 80, 32—81, 20, 
ed. Sylb.) so, from the tlme of Homer downward, we find Zeis 
constantly mentioned apart from the other gods (ef. I]. I. 423, 
494), and so also with his epithet rar%p, as in v. 4, 17, 20, etc.) 
(Eustath, on Il. T. L., p. 111, 30, ére Zeds GdAaKOD pév drAGS rarhp 
é\ex0n). There is evidently, therefore, the opposition expressed 
in the text; ‘‘’Tis not for the other gods (1.e. rots dA\dors Bvt) 
to rule, but for Jove alone.” This view was approved, but not 
confirmed, by Paley, 

2 See Dindorf. 


55-74] PROMETHEUS. 15 


Sr. Take them, and with mighty force clench them with 
the mallet about his hands: rivet him close to the erags. 

Vuu. This work of ours is speeding to its consummation 
and loiters not. 

Sr. Smite harder, tighten, slacken at no point, for he hath 
cunning to find outlets even from impracticable difficulties. 

Vou. This arm at all events is fastened inextricably. 

Sr. And now clasp this securely, that he may perceive 
himself to be a duller contriver than Jupiter. 

Vout. Save this [sufferer], no one could with reason find 
fault with me. 

Sr. Now by main force rivet the ruthless fang of an ada- 
mantine wedge right through his breast.? 

Vuu. Alas! alas! Prometheus, I sigh over thy sufferings. 

Sr. Again thou art hanging back, and sighest thou over 
the enemies of Jupiter? Look to it, that thou hast not at 
some time to mourn for thyself. 

Vu. Thou beholdest a spectacle ill-sighted to the eye. 

Sr. I behold this wretch receiving his deserts. But fling 
thou these girths round his sides. 

Vout. I must needs do this; urge me not very much. 

Sr. Ay, but I will urge thee, and set thee on too. Move 
downward, and strongly link his legs. 

Vuu. And in truth the task is done with no long toil. 

Sr. With main force now smite the galling fetters, since 
stern indeed is the inspector of this work. 

Vu. Thy tongue sounds in accordance with thy form. 

Sr. Yield thou to softness, but taunt not me with ruth- 
lessness and harshness of temper. _ 

1 Paley well observes that there is no objection to this inter- 
pretation, for if Prometheus could endure the daily gnawing 
of his entrails by the vulture, the rivets wouldn’t put him to 


much trouble. Lucian, 2 6, is content with fastening his hands 
to the two sides of the chasm. 


6 PROMETHEUS. (75-104. 


Vou. Let us go; since he hath the shackles about his 
limbs. 

Sr. There now be insolent ; and after pillaging the pre- 
rogatives of the gods, confer them on creatures of a day. 
In what will mortals be able to alleviate these agonies of 
thine? By no true title do the divinities call thee Prome- 
theus ; for thou thyself hast need of a Prometheus, by means 
of which you will slip out of this fate. 

[Exeunt StRENGTH and FORCE. 

PromeTHeEvs. O divine ether, and ye swift-winged 
breezes, and ye fountains of rivers, and countless dimpling? 
of the waves of the deep, and thou earth, mother of all— 
and to the all-seeing orb of the Sun I appeal ; look upon me, 
what treatment I, a god, am enduring at the hand of the 
gods! Behold with what indignities mangled I shall have 
to wrestle through time of years innumerable. Such an 
ignominious bondage hath the new ruler of the immortals 
devised against me. Alas! alas! I sigh over the present 
suffering, and that which is coming on. -How, where must 
a termination of these toils arise? And yet what is it lam 
saying? I know beforehand all futurity exactly, and no 
suffering will come upon me unlooked-for. But I needs 
must bear my doom as easily as may be, knowing as I do, 
that the might of Necessity can not be resisted. 


1 réxns is retained by Dindorf, but réxyns is defended by 
Griffiths and Paley. I think, with Burges, that it isa gloss 
upon IIpopnbéws, 

2 So Milton, P. L. iv. 165, 

Cheer’d with the grateful smell old Ocean smiles, 

Lord Byron (opening of the Giaour) : 

There mildly dimpling Ocean’s cheek 
Reflects the tints of many a ; 
Caught by the laughing tides that lave 
Those Edens of the eastern wave. 


105-132.] PROMETHEUS. 1” 


But yet it is not possible for me either to hold my peace, 
or not to hold my peace touching these my fortunes. For 
having bestowed boons upon mortals, Iam enthralled un- 
happy in these hardships. And Iam he that searched out 
the source of fire, by stealth borne-off inclosed in a fennel- 
rod;! which has shown itself a teacher of every art to mor- 
tals, and a great resource. Such then as this is the ven- 
geance that I endure for my trespasses, being riveted in 
fetters beneath the naked sky. 

Hah! what sound, what ineffable odor? hath been wafted 
to me, emanating from a god, or from mortal, or of some 
intermediate nature? Has there come any one to the re- 
mote rock as a spectator of my sufferings, or with what in- 
tent !® Behold me an ill-fated god in durance, the foe of 
Jupiter, him that hath incurred the detestation of all the 
gods who frequent the court of Jupiter, by reason of my 
excessive friendliness to mortals. Alas! alas! what can 
this hasty motion of birds be which I again hear hard by 
me? The air too is whistling faintly with the whirrings of 
pinions. Every thing that approaches is to me an object of 
dread. 

Cuorvs. Dread thou nothing ; for this is a friendly band 
that has eome with the fleet rivalry of their pinions to this 

1 Literally “filling a rod,” r\jjpwros here being active. Cf. 
Agam. 361, drns ravahdrov, Choeph. 296, tapg6ipro pépw. Pers. 
105, toAguovs rupyodatkrovs. See also Blomfield, and Porson on 
Hes. 1117, vépént is “ferula” or “fennel-giant,” the pith of 
which makes excellent fuel. Blomfield quotes Proclus on 
Hesiod, Op. 1, 52, “the vap6nz preserves flame excellently, having 
a soft pith inside, that nourishes, but can not extinguish the 
flame.” For a strange fable connected with this theft, see 
filian Hist. An. VI. 51. 

2 On the preternatural scent supposed to attend the presence 
of a deity, cf Eur. Hippol. 1391, with Monk’s note, Virg, An. I. 


403, and La Cerda. See also Boyes’s Illustrations. 
3 On 6 cf, Jelf, Gk. Gr. 3 723, 2. 


18 PROMETHEUS. [ 133-167. 


rock, after prevailing with difficulty on the mind of our 
father. And the swiftly-wafting breezes escorted me; for 
the echo of the clang of steel pierced to the recess of our 
grots, and banished my demure-looking reserve ; and I sped 
without my sandals in my winged chariot. 

Pr. Alas! alas! ye offspring of prolific Thetys, and 
daughters of Ocean your sire, who rolls around the whole 
earth in his unslumbering stream ; look upon me, see clasped 
in what bonds I shall keep an unenviable watch on the top- 
most crags of this ravine. 

Cu. I see, Prometheus: and a fearful mist full of tears 
darts over mine eyes, as I looked on thy frame withering 
on the rocks! in these galling adamantine fetters: for new 
pilots are the masters of Olympus; and Jove, contrary to 
right, lords it with new laws, and things aforetime had in 
reverence he is obliterating. 

Pr. Oh would that he had sent me beneath the earth, and 
below into the boundless Tartarus of Hades that receives the 
dead, after savagely securing me in indissoluble bonds, so 
that no god at any time, nor any other being, had exulted 
inthis my doom. Whereas now, hapless one, I, the sport of 
the winds, suffer pangs that gladden my foes. 

Cu. Who of the gods is so hard-hearted as that these 
things should be grateful to him? Who is there that sym- 
pathizes not with thy sufferings, Jove excepted? He, in- 
deed, in his wrath, assuming an inflexible temper, is ever- 
more oppressing the celestial race! nor will he cease before 
that either he shall have sated his heart, or some one by 
some stratagem shall have seized upon his sovereignity that 
will be no easy prize. 


1 Elmsley’s reading, rérpa . . . rade, is preferred by Dindorf, 
and seems more suitable to the passage. But if we read raicde, 
it will come to the same thing, retaining rérpacs. 





168-202, ] PROMETHEUS. 19 


Pr. In truth hereafter the president of the immortals? 
shall have need of me, albeit that I am ignominiously suffer- 
ing in stubborn shackles, to discover to him the new plot by 
which he is to be despoiled of his sceptre and his honors. 
But neither shall he win me by the honey-tongued charms of 
persuasion ; nor will I at any time, crouching beneath his 
stern threats, divulge this matter, before he shall have re- 
leased me from my cruel bonds, and shall be willing to yield 
me retribution for this outrage. 

Cu. Thou indeed both art bold, and yieldest nought to 
thy bitter calamities, but art over free in thy language. But 
piercing terror is worrying my soul; for I fear for thy for- 
tunes. How, when will it be thy destiny to make the haven 
and see the end of these thy sufferings? for the son of Saturn 
has manners that supplication cannot reach, and an inexo- 
rable heart. 

Pr. I know that Jupiter is harsh, and keeps justice to 
himself ; but for all that he shall hereafter be softened in 
purpose, when he shall be crushed in this way ; and, after 
calming his unyielding temper with eagerness will he here- 
after come into league and friendship with me that will 
eagerly [welcome him]. 

Cu. Unfold and speak out to us the whole story, from 
what accusation has Jupiter seized thee, and is thus disgrace- 
fully and bitterly tormenting thee. Inform us, if thou be 
in no respect hurt by the recital. 

Pr. Painful indeed are these things for me to tell, and 
painful too for me to hold my peace, and in every way 
grievous. As soon as the divinities began discord, and 
a feud was stirred up among them with one another—one 


1 Surely we should read this sentence interrogatively, as in 
v.99, mi wore péx@wv Xph réppara rdvd? émrethat; although the 
editions do not agree as to that passage. So Burges. 


20 PROMETHEUS. [ 203-231. 


party! wishing to eject Saturn from his throne, in order 
forsooth that Jupiter might be king, and others expediting 
the reverse, that Jupiter might at no time rule over the 
gods: then I, when I gave the best advice, was not able to 
prevail upon the Titans, children of Uranus and Terra; but 
they, contemning in their stout spirits wily schemes, fancied 
that without any trouble, and by dint of main force, they 
were to win the sovereignty. But it was not once only that 
my mother Themis, and Terra, a single person with many 
titles, had forewarned me of the way in which the future 
would be accomplished; how it was destined, that, not 
by main force, nor by the strong hand, but by craft the 
victors should prevail. When, however, I explained such 
points in discourse, they deigned not to pay me any regard 
at all. Of the plans which then presented themselves to 
me, the best appeared that I should take my mother and 
promptly side with Jupiter, who was right willing [to 
receive us]. And ’tis by means of my counsels that the 
murky abyss of Tartarus overwhelms the antique Saturn, 
allies and all. After thus being assisted by me, the tyrant 
of the gods hath recompensed me with this foul recom- 
pense. For somehow this malady attaches to tyranny, not 
to put confidence in its friends. But for your inquiries 
upon what charge is it that he outrages me, this I will make 
clear. As soon as he has established himself on his father’s 
throne, he assigns forthwith to the different divinities each 
his honors, and he was marshaling in order his empire; but 
of woe-begone mortals he made no account, but wished, after 

1 Nominativus Pendens. Soph, Antig. 259, Aéyor & év dddj- 
Roto épp6Govv Kaxot, Pbay EAEyXwv Gddaxa, where see Wunder, and 
Elmsley on Eur. Heracl. 40. But it is probably only the cxjpa 
xa’ 6dov kai pépoS, on which see Jelf, Gk. Gr. ? 478, and the same 


thing takes place with the accusative, as in Antig. 21, sq. 561. 
See Erfurdt on 21. 


232-260. ] PROMETHEUS. 21 


having annihilated the entire race, to plant another new 
one. And these schemes no one opposed except myself. 
But I dared: I ransomed mortals from being utterly de- 
stroyed, and going down to Hades. ’Tis for this, in truth, 
that I am bent by sufferings such as these, agonizing to 
endure, and piteous to look upon. I that had compassion 
for mortals, have myself been deemed unworthy to obtain 
this, but mercilessly am thus coerced to order, a spectacle 
inglorious to Jupiter. 

Cu. Iron-hearted and formed of rock too, Prometheus, is 
he, who condoles not with thy toils: for I could have wished 
never to have beheld them, and now, when I behold them, I 
am pained in my heart. 

Pr. Ay, in very deed I am a piteous object for friends 
to behold. 

Cu. And didst thou chance to advance even beyond this? 

Pr. Yes! I prevented mortals from foreseeing their 
doom. 

Cu. By finding what remedy for this malady ? 

Pr. I caused blind hopes to dwell within them. 

Cu. In this thou gavest a mighty benefit to mortals. 

Pr. Over and above these boons, however, I imparted 
fire to them. 

Cu. And do the creatures of a day now possess bright fire? 

Pr. Yes—from which they will moreover learn conpheniered 
many arts. 

Cu. Is it indeed on charges such as these that Jupiter is 
both visiting thee with indignities, and in no wise grants 
thee a respite from thy pains? And is no period to thy toils 
set before thee? 

Pr. None other assuredly, but when it may please him. 

Cu. And how shall it be his good pleasure? What hope 
is there? Seest thou not that thou didst err? but how thou 


22 PROMETHEUS. [ 261-295. 


didst err, I can not relate with pleasure, and it would bea 
pain to you. But let us leave these points, and search thou 
for some escape from thine agony. 

Pr. ’Tis easy, for any one that hath his foot unentangled 
by sufferings, both to exhort and to admonish him that is 
in evil plight. But I knew all these things willingly, will- 
ingly I erred, I will not gainsay it; and in doing service to 
mortals I brought upon myself sufferings. Yet not at all did 
I imagine, that, in such a punishment as this, I was to wither 
away upon lofty rocks, meeting with this desolate solitary 
crag. And yet wail ye not over my present sorrows, but 
after alighting on the ground, list ye to the fortune that is 
coming on, that ye may learn the whole throughout. Yield 
to me, yield ye, take ye a share in the woes of him that is 
now suffering. Hence in the same way doth calamity, roam- 
ing to and fro, settle down on different individuals. 

Cx. Upon those who are nothing loth hast thou urged 
this, Prometheus: and now having with light step quitted 
my rapidly-wafted chariot-seat, and the pure ether, high- 
way of the feathered race, I will draw near to this rugged 
ground: and I long to hear the whole tale of thy sufferings. 

Enter OCEAN. 

I am arrived at the end of a long journey,’ having passed 
over [it] to thee, Prometheus, guiding this winged steed of 
mine, swift of pinion, by my will, without a bit; and, rest 
assured, I sorrow with thy misfortunes. For both the tie of 
kindred thus constrains me, and, relationship apart, there 
is no one on whom I would bestow a larger share [of my 
regard] than to thyself. And thou shalt know that these 
words are sincere, and that it is not in me vainly to do lip- 
service; for come, signify to me in what it is necessary for 


1 See Linwood’s Lexicon, s. v. 4ue(8w, whose construing I 
have followed. 


296-321.] PROMETHEUS. 23 


me to assist thee; for at no time shalt thou say that thou 
hast a stancher friend than Oceanus. 

Pr. Hah! what means this? and hast thou too come to 
be a witness of my pangs? How hast thou ventured, after 
quitting both the stream that bears thy name, and the rock- 
roofed self-wrought' grots, to come into the iron teeming 
land? ‘Is it that you may contemplate my misfortunes, and 
as sympathizing with my woes that thou hast come? Be- 
hold a spectacle, me here the friend of Jupiter, that helped 
to establish his sovereignty, with what pains I am bent by 
him. 

Oc. I see, Prometheus, and to thee, subtle as thou art, I 
wish to give the best counsel. Know thyself, and assume to 
thyself new manners; for among the gods too there is a new 
monarch. But if thou wilt utter words thus harsh and 
whetted, Jupiter mayhap, though seated far aloft, will hear 
thee, so that the present bitterness of sufferings will seem to 
thee to be child’s play. But, O hapless one! dismiss the 
passion which thou feelest, and search for a deliverance from 
these sufferings of thine. Old-fashioned maxims these, it 
may be, I appear to thee to utter; yet such becomes the wages 
of the tongue that talks too proudly. But not even yet art 
thou humble, nor submittest to ills ; and in addition to those 
that already beset thee, thou art willing to bring others upon 
thee. Yet not, if at least thou takest me for thy instructor, 


1 Of. Virg. ZEn. I. 167, “‘Intus aque dulces, vivoque sedilia 
saxo.” 
“The rudest habitation, ye might think 
That it had sprung from earth self-raised, or grown 
Out of the living rock.’—Wordsworth’s Excursion, 
Book vi. 


Compare a most picturesque description of Diana’s cave, in 
Apul. Met. II. p. 116; Elm. Telemachus,. Book I.; Undine, ch. 
viii.; Lane’s Arabian Nights, vol. iii. p. 385. 


24 PROMETHEUS. [ 322-348. 


wilt thou stretch out thy leg against the pricks ; as thou seest 
that a harsh monarch, and one that is not subject to control, 
is lording it. And now I for my part will go, and will essay, 
if I be able, to disinthrall thee from these thy pangs. But be 
thou still, nor be over impetuous in thy language. What! 
knowest thou not exactly, extremely intelligent as thou art, 
that punishment is inflicted on a froward tongue? 

Pr. I give thee joy, because that thou hast escaped cen- 
sure, after taking part in and venturing along with me in all 
things. And now leave him alone, and let it not concern 
thee. For in no wise wilt thou persuade him ; for he is not 
open to persuasion. And look thou well to it that thou take 
not harm thyself by the journey. 

Oc. Thou art far better calculated by nature to instruct 
thy neighbors than thyself: I draw my conclusion from fact, 
and not from word. But think not for a moment to divert 
me from the attempt. For I am confident, yea, I am confi- 
dent, that Jupiter will grant me this boon, so as to release 
thee from these pangs of thine. 

Pr. In part I commend thee, and will by no means at any 
time cease to do so. For in zeal to serve me thou lackest 
nothing. But trouble thyself not; for in vain, without be- 
ing of any service to me,! wilt thou labor, if in any respect 
thou art willing to labor. But hold thou thy peace, and 
keep thyself out of harm’s way ; for 1, though I be in mis- 
fortune, would not on this account be willing that sufferings 

1 Although Dindort has left 2KZEANO® before the lines begin- 
ning with od djra, yet as he in his notes, p. 54, approves of the 
opinion of Elmsley (to which the majority of critics assent), I 
have continued them to Prometheus. Dindorf (after Burges) 
remarks that the particles 0% djra deceived the copyists, who 
thought that they pointed to the commencement of a new 
speaker’s address. He quotes Soph. Cid. C. 433; Eur. Alcest. 


555; Heracl. 507, sqq., where it is used as a continuation of a 
previous argument, as in the present passage. 





349-366.] PROMETHEUS. 25 


should befall as many as possible. No, indeed, since also 
the disasters of my brother Atlas gall my heart, who is sta- 
tioned in the western regions, sustaining on his shoulders the 
pillar of heaven and of earth, a burden not of easy grasp. 
I commiserated too when I beheld the earth-born inmate of 
the Cilician caverns, a tremendous prodigy, the hundred- 
headed impetuous Typhon, overpowered by force, who with- 
stood all the gods, hissing slaughter from his hungry jaws ; 
and from his eyes there flashed a hideous glare, as though 
he would perforce overthrow the sovereignty of Jove. But 
the sleepless shaft of Jupiter came upon him, the descending 
thunderbolt breathing forth flame, which scared him out of 
his presumptuous bravadoes ; for having been smitten to his 
very soul he was crumbled to a.cinder, and thunder-blasted 
in his prowess. And now, a helpless and paralyzed form is 
he lying hard by a narrow frith, pressed down beneath the 
roots of Atna.! And, seated on the topmost peaks, Vulcan 


1 Tt has been remarked that Hschylus had Pindar in mind, 
see Pyth, I. 31, and VIII. 20. On this fate of Enceladus ef. 
Philostrat. de V. Apoll. V.6; Apollodorus I.; Hygin. Fab. 152; 
and for poetical descriptions, Cornel. Severus A®tua, 70, “‘ Gur- 
gite Trinacrio morientem Jupiter Htna Obruit Enceladum, 
vasti qui pondere montis Mstuat, et patulis exspirat faucibus 
ignes.” Virg. Ain. III. 578; Valer. Flacc. II. 24; Ovid. Met. 
V. Fab. V. 6; Claudian, de raptu Pros. I. 155; Orph. Arg. 1256. 
Strabo, I. p. 42, makes Hesiod acquainted with these eruptions. 
(See Goettling on Theog. 821,) But Prometheus here utters a 
prophecy concerning an eruption that really took place during 
the life of Aschylus, Ol. 75, 2, BC. 479. Cf. Thucydides III. 
116; Cluver, Sicil. Antig. p. 104, and Dindorf’s clear and 
learned note. ‘ There can be little doubt but Enceladus and Ty- 
phon are only different names for the same monster. Burges 
has well remarked the resemblance between the Egyptian Ty- 
pho and the Grecian, and considers them both as “two out- 
ward forms of one internal idea, representing the destructive 
principle of matter opposed to the creative.” I shall refer the 
reader to Plutarch’s entertaining treatise on Isis and Osiris; but 


26 PROMETHEUS. [ 367-386. 


forges the molten masses, whence there shall one day burst 
forth floods devouring with fell jaws the level fields of 
fruitful Sicily: with rage such as this shall Typhon boil 
over in hot artillery of a never-glutted fire-breathing storm ; 
albeit he hath been reduced to ashes by the thunder-bolt of 
Jupiter. But thou art no novice, nor needest thou me for 
thine instructor. Save thyself as best thou knowest how ; 
but I will exhaust my present fate until such time as the 
spirit of Jupiter shall abate its wrath. 

Oc. Knowest thou not this then, Prometheus, that words 
are the physicians of a distempered feeling ?4 

Pr. True, if one seasonably soften down the heart, and 
do not with rude violence reduce a swelling spirit. 

Oc. Ay, but in foresight along with boldness? what mis- 
chief is there that thou seest to be inherent? inform me. 

Pr. Superfluous trouble and trifling folly. 

Oc. Suffer me to sicken in this said sickness, since ’tis of 
the highest advantage for one that is wise not to seem to be 
wise. 

Pr. (Not so, for) this trespass will seem to be mine. | 


to quote authorities from Herodotus down to the Apologetic 
Fathers, would be endless. 

1 [ think, notwithstanding the arguments of Dindorf, that 
épyfis vocotons means “a mind distempered,” and that Adyoe 
mean “arguments, reasonings.” Boyes, who always shows a 
poetical appreciation of his author, aptly quotes Spenser’s 
Fairy Queen, b. 2, c. 8, st. 26. 


Words well dispost, 
Have secrete powre t’ appease inflamed rage.” 


And Samson Agonistes: 


“Apt words have power to swage 
The tumors of a troubled mind.” 


The reading of Plutarch, Yvxfis appears to be a mere gloss. 
2 Intellige audaciam prudentid conjunctam.—Blomfield. 


387-421.] PROMETHEUS. 27 


Oc. Thy language is plainly sending me back to my 
home. 

Pr. Lest thy lamentation over me bring thee into ill-will. 

Oc. What with him who hath lately seated himself on the 
throne that ruleth over all? 

Pr. Beware of him lest at any time his heart be moved 
to wrath. 

Oc. Thy disaster, Prometheus, is my monitor. 

Pr. Away! withdraw thee, keep thy present determina- 
tion. 

Oc. On me, hastening to start, hast thou urged this in- 
junction; for my winged quadruped flaps with his pinions 
the smooth track of ether; and blithely would he recline 
his limbs in his stalls at home. [Exit OcEAN. 

Cu. I bewail thee for thy lost fate, Prometheus. A flood 
of trickling tears from my yielding eyes has bedewed my 
cheek with its humid gushings ; for Jupiter commanding this 
thine unenviable doom by laws of his own, displays his 
spear appearing superior o’er the gods of old.!. And now 
the whole land echoes with wailing—they wail thy stately ~ 
and time-graced honors, and those of thy brethren ; and all 
they of mortal race that occupy a dwelling neighboring on 
hallowed Asia? mourn with thy deeply-deplorable sufferings : 
the virgins that dwell in the land of Colchis too, fearless 
of the fight, and the Scythian horde who possess the most 
remote regions of earth around lake Meotis; and the war- 
like flower of Arabia,* who occupy a fortress on the craggy 


_ 1 aixpa is rendered “indoles” by Paley (see on Ag. 467). 

Linwood by “authority,” which is much nearer the truth, as 
the spear was anciently used for the sceptre. Mr. Burges op- 
portunely suggests Pindar’s éyxos Sdxorov, which he gives to 
Jupiter, Nem. vi. 90. 

2 Asia is here personified. 

3 All commentators, from the scholiast downward, are natu- 


28 PROMETHEUS. — [422-444. 


heights in the neighborhood of Caucasus, a warrior-host, 
clamoring amid sharply-barbed spears. 

One other god only, indeed, have I heretofore beheld in 
miseries, the Titan Atlas, subdued by the galling of adaman- 
tine’ bonds, who evermore in his back is groaning beneath? 
the excessive mighty mass of the pole of heaven. And the 
billow of the deep roars as it falls in cadence, the depth 

‘moans, and the murky vault of Hades rumbles beneath the 
earth, and the fountains of the pure streaming rivers wail 
for his piteous pains. 

Pr. Do not, I pray you, suppose that I am holding my 
peace from pride or self-will ; but by reflection am I gnawed 
to the heart, seeing myself thus ignominiously entreated.® 
And yet who but myself defined completely the prerogative 
for these same new gods? But on these matters I say noth- 
ing, for I should speak to you already acquainted with these 
things. But for the misfortunes that existed among mortals, 
hear how I made them, that aforetime lived as infants, 
rational and possessed of intellect. And I will tell you, 


rally surprised at this mention of Arabia, when Prometheus is 
occupied in describing the countries bordering on the Euxine. 
Burges conjectures ’ABipius, which he supports with consider- 
able learning. But although the name ’Afdpides (mentioned 
by Suidas) might well be given to those whodwelt in unknown 
parts of the earth, from the legendary travels of Abaris with 
hisarrow, yet the epithet dpewv dvéos seems to point to some 
really existing nation, while ’Afdpees would rather seem pro- 
verbial. Till, then, we are more certain, Aschylus must still 
stand chargeable with geographical inconsistency. 

1 Thave followed Burges and Dindorf, although the latter 
retains dxapavrodéros in his text. 

2, Why Dindorf should have adopted Hermann’s frigid 
trocreyaser, is not easily seen. The reader will, however, find 
Griffiths’ foot-note well deserving of inspection. 

3 On rpovetdobpevoy, see Dindorf. 

* Among the mythographi discovered by Maii, and subse- 
quently edited by Bode, the reader will find some allegorical 


445-459.] PROMETHEUS, 29 


having no complaint against mankind, as detailing the kind- 
ness of the boons which I bestowed upon them: they who at 
first seeing saw in vain, hearing they heard not. But, like 
to the forms of dreams, for a long time they used to huddle 
together all things at random, and naught knew they about 
brick-built! and sun-ward houses, nor carpentry; but they 
dwelt in the excavated earth like tiny emmets in the sunless 
depths of caverns. And they had no sure sign either of 
winter, or of flowery spring, or of fruitful summer ; but they 
used to do every thing without judgment, until indeed I 
showed to them the risings of the stars and their settings,? 
hard to be discerned. 

And verily I discover for them Numbers, the surpassing 
all inventions,* the combinations too of letters, and Memory, 


explanations of these benefits given by Prometheus. See 
Myth. primus I. 1, and tertius 3,10,9. They are, however, 
little else than compilations from the commentary of Servius 
on Virgil, and the silly, but amusing, mythology of Fulgentius. 
On the endowment of speech and reason to men by Prome- 
theus, cf. Themist. Or. xxxvi. p. 323, C. D. and xxvi. p. 338, C. 
ed. Hard.; and for general illustrations, the notes of Wasse on 
Sallust, Cat. sub init. ; 

1 Brick-building is first ascribed to Euryalus and Hyperbius, 
two brothers at Athens, by Pliny, H. N. vii. 56, quoted by 
Stanley. After caves, huts of beams, filled in with turf-clods, 
were probably the first dwellings of men. See Mallet’s North- 
ern Antiquities, p. 217,ed. Bohn. This whole passage has been 
imitated by Moschion apud Stob. Ecl. Phys. I, 11, while the 
early reformation of men has ever been a favorite theme for 
poets. Cf. Eurip. Suppl. 200 sqq.; Manilius I. 41, sqq.; and 
Bronkhus, on Tibull. I. 3, 35. 

2 Cf. Apul. de Deo Socr. 2 IT. ed. mez, “‘quos probe callet, qui 
signorum ortus et obitus comprehendit,” Catullus (in a poem 
imitated from Callimachus) carm. 67,1. “Omnia qui magni 
dispexit lumina mundi, Qui stellarum ortus comperit atque 
obitus.” See on Agam. 7. 

3 On the following discoveries consult the learned and en- 
tertaining notes of Stanley. 


30 PROMETHEUS. [ 460-487. 


effective mother-nurse of all arts. I also first bound with 
yokes beasts submissive to the collars; and in order that 
with their bodies they might become to mortals substitutes 
for their severest toils, I brought steeds under cars obedient 
‘to the rein,! a glory to pompous luxury. And none other 
than I invented the canvas-winged chariots of mariners that 
roam over the ocean. After discovering for mortals such 
inventions, wretch that I am, I myself have no device 
whereby I may escape from my present misery. 

Cu. Thou hast suffered unseemly ills, baulked in thy dis- 
cretion thou art erring; and like a bad physician, having 
fallen into a distemper thou art faint-hearted, and, in refer- 
ence to thyself, thou canst not discover by what manner of 
medicines thou mayest be cured. 

Pr. When thou hearest the rest of my tale, thou wilt won- 
der still more what arts and resources I contrived. For the 
greatest—if that any one fell into a distemper, there was 
no remedy, neither in the way of diet, nor of liniment, nor of 
potion, but for lack of medicines they used to pine away to 
skeletons, before that I pointed out to them the composition? 
of mild remedies, wherewith they ward off all their maladies, 
Many modes too of the divining art didI classify, and was 
the first that discriminated among dreams those which are 
destined to be a true vision ; obscure vocal omens’ too I made 


1 iyayoy piArnviovs, i.e, dore pirnviovs elvat, 

2 See the elaborate notes of Blomfield and Burges, from 
whence all the other commentators have derived their infor- 
mation. Kpdéo.s is what Scribonius Largus calls ‘‘ compositio.” 
Cf. Rhodii Lexicon Scribon, p. 364-5; Serenus Sammonicus 
“synthesis.” The former writer observes in his preface, p. 2, 
“est enim hee pars (compositio, scilicet) medicine ut maxime 
necessaria, ita certe antiquissima, et ob hoc primum celebrata 
atque illustrata. Siquidem verum est, antiquos herbis ac radi- 
cibus earum corporis vitia curasse.” 

3 Apul. de Deo Socr. 2 20, ed, mex, ‘‘ ut videmus plerisque usu 


488-511.] PROMETHEUS. 31 


known to them ; tokens also incidental on the road, and the 
flight of birds of crooked talons I clearly defined, both those 
that are in their nature auspicious, and the ill-omened, and 
what the kind of life that each leads, and what are their 
feuds and endearments' and intercourse one with another: 
the smoothness too of the entrails, and what hue they must 
have to be acceptable to the gods, the various happy forma- 
tions of the gall and liver, and the limbs enveloped in fat: 
and having roasted the long chine I pointed out to mortals 
the way into an abstruse art ; and I brought to light the fiery 
symbols’ that were aforetime wrapt in darkness. Such in- 
deed were these boons ; and the gains to mankind that were 
hidden under ground, brass, iron, silver, and gold—who 
could assert that he had discovered before me? No one, I 
well know, who does not mean to idly babble. And in one 
brief sentence learn the whole at once—All arts among the 
human race are from Prometheus. 

Cx. Do not now serve the human race beyond what is pro- 
fitable, nor disregard thyself in thy distress: since I have 
good hopes that thou shalt yet be liberated from these shac- 
kles, and be not one whit less powerful than Jove. 

Pr. Not at all in this way is Fate, that brings events to 
their consummation ordained to accomplish these things : but 


venire, qui nimia ominum superstitione, non suopte corde, sed 
alterius verbo, reguntur: et per angiporta reptantes, consilia ex 
alienis vocibus colligunt.” Such was the voice that appeared 
to Socrates. See Plato Theog. p. 11. A. Xenoph. Apol. 12; Pro- 
clus in Alcib. Prim. 13, p. 41, Creuz. See also Stanley’s note, 

1 On these augurial terms see Abresch. 

2 Although the Vatican mythologist above quoted observes 
of Prometheus, “deprehendit preterea rationem fulminum, et 
hominibus indicavit—’ Ishould nevertheless follow Stanley 
and Blomfield, in understanding these words to apply to the 
omens derived from the flame and smoke ascending from the 
sacrifices, 


32 PROMETHEUS, [512=552, 


after having been bent by countless sufferings and calamities, 
thus am I to escape from my shackles. And art is far less 
powerful than necessity. 

Cu. Who then is the pilot of neeessity ? 

Pr. The triform Fates and the remembering Furies. 

Cu. Is Jupiter then less powerful than these ? 

Pr. Most certainly he can not at any rate escape his 
doom. 

Cu. Why, what is doomed for Jupiter but to reign for 
evermore ? 

Pr. This thou mayest not yet learn, and do not press it. 

Cu. ’Tis surely some solemn mystery that thou veilest. 

Pr. Make mention of some other matter; it is by no 
means seasonable to proclaim this ; but it must be shrouded 
in deepest concealment ; for it is by keeping this secret that 
I am to escape from my ignominious shackles and miseries. 

Cu. Never may Jupiter, who directs all things, set his 
might in opposition to my purpose: nor may I be backward 
in attending upon the gods at their hallowed banquets, at 
which oxen are sacrificed, beside the restless stream of my 
sire Ocean; and may I not trespass in my words; but may 
this feeling abide by me and never melt away. Sweet it is to 
pass through a long life in confident hopes, making the 
spirits swell with bright merriment; but I shudder as I be- 
hold thee harrowed by agonies incalculable. ... For not 
standing in awe of Jupiter, thou, Prometheus, in thy self- 
will honorest mortals to excess. Come, my friend, own how 
boonless was the boon ; say where is any aid? What relief 
can come from the creatures of a day? Sawest thou not the 
powerless weakness, nought better than a dream, in which 

1 Cf. Herodot. I. 91, quoted by Blomfield: riv rexpopévny pot- 


pnv ddbvard éort dmopvy ew kai rd Oe, On this Pythagorean no- 
tion of Aschylus see Stanley. 


§53-564.] PROMETHEUS. 33 


the blind race of menis entangled? Never shall at any time 
the schemes of mortals evade the harmonious system of Ju- 
piter. This I learned by witnessing thy destructive fate, 
Prometheus. And far different is this strain that now flits 
toward me from the hymenzal chant which I raised around 
the baths and thy couch with the consent! of nuptials, when, 
after having won Hesione with thy love-tokens, thou didst 
conduct her our sister to be thy bride, the sharer of thy bed. 
Enter Io.? 

What land is this? what race? whom shall I say I here 
behold storm-tossed in rocky fetters? Of what trespass is 
the retribution destroying thee? Declare to me into what 
part of earth I forlorn have roamed. Ah me! alas! alas! 
again the hornet* stings me miserable: O earth avert* the 


1 Or, “in pleasure at the nuptials.” See Linwood. Burges: 
“ for the one-ness of marriage.” 

2 No clew is given as to the form in which Io was repre- 
sented on the stage. In v. 848, the promise évraiéa 64 ce Leds 
ri@now Exdpova does not imply any bodily change, but that Io 
labored under a mental delusion. Still the mythologists are 
against us, who agree in making her transformation complete. 
Perhaps she was represented with horns, like the Egyptian 
figures of Isis, but in other respects as a virgin, which is 
somewhat confirmed by v. 592, céeis Gbéypa ra> Botkepw rapOévov, 

3 “Gad-fly” or “brize.” See the commentators. 

* On the discrepancies of reading, see Dind. With the whole 
passage compare Nonuus, Dionys. III. p. 62, 2. 


Tavpopvis Gre réptiS GpeBopévowo rpocwmrov 
eis &yéXnv dypavr\os éXabvero cbvvopos 71d, 
xai dapddns Gypurvov éOijxaro Bovxddov "Hpn 
aroikidov dzAavésoot Kexacpévoy "Apyov érwrdis 
Znvos érirevrijpa Booxpaipwr tyevaiwv, 

Znvos &Onhrow Kai éF vopdy Hie xotpn, 
6¢0adpods rpopéovea rodvyAjvoto vopios, 
*yviopbpw dé pbwm: Xapaccoptvyn dépas 71d 
*Iovins [Gos] ofdua xaréypage porrade Xpdj. 
HrOe Kae eis” Avyurrov— 


This writer, who constantly has the Athenian dramatists in 
2* 


34 PROMETHEUS. [565-590. 


goblin of earth-born Argus :! I am terrified at the sight of 
the neatherd of thousand eyes, for he is journeying on, 
keeping a cunning glance, whom not even after death does 
earth conceal; but issuing forth from among the departed 
he chases me miserable, and he makes me to wander famished 
along the shingled strand, while the sounding wax-compacted 
pipe drones on a sleepy strain. Oh! oh! ye powers! Oh! 
powers ! whither do my far-roaming wanderings convey me? 
In what, in what, O son of Saturn, hast thou, having found 
me transgressing, shackled me in these pangs? Ah! ah! 
and art thus wearing out a timorous wretch frenzied with 
sting-driven fear. Burn me with fire, or bury me in 
earth, or give me for food to the monsters of the deep, and 
grudge me not these prayers, O king! Amply have my 
much-traversed wanderings harassed me ; nor can I discover 
how I may avoid pain. Hearest thou the address of the ox- 
horned maiden? 

Pr. How can [I fail to hear the damsel that is frenzy- 
driven by the hornet, the daughter of Inachus, who warms 


view, pursues the narrative of Io’s wanderings with an evident 
reference to Hschylus. See other illustrations from the poets 
in Stanley’s notes. 

1 The ghost of Argus was doubtless whimsically represented, 
but probably without the waste of flour that is peculiar to 
modern stage spectres. Perhaps, as Burges describes, ‘‘a mute 
in a dress resembling a peacock’s tail expanded, and with a 
Pan’s pipe slung to his side, which ever and anon he seems to 
sound; and with a goad in his hand, mounted at one end with 
a representation of a hornet or gad-fly.” But this phantom, 
like Macbeth’s dagger, is supposed to be in the mind only. 
With a similar idea Apuleius, Apol. p. 315, ed. Elm. invokes 
upon Amilianus in the following mild terms: “At... sem- 
per obvias species mortuorum, quidquid umbrarum est usquam, 
quidquid lemurum, quidquid manium, quidquid larvarum 
oculis tuis oggerat: omnia noctium occursacula, omnia busto- 
rum formidamina, omnia sepulchrorum terriculamenta, a qui- 
bus tamen evo emerito haud longe abes,”’ 


591-621.] PROMETHEUS. 35 


the heart of Jupiter with love, and now, abhorred of Juno, 
is driven perforce courses of exceeding length? 

Io. From whence utterest thou the name of my father? 
Tell me, the woe-begone, who thou art, who, I say, O hapless 
one, that hast thus correctly accosted me miserable, and hast 
named the heaven-inflicted disorder which wastes me, fret- 
ting with its maddening stings? Ah! ah! violently driven 
by the famishing tortures of my boundings have I come a 
victim to the wrathful counsels of Juno. And of the ill-fated 
who are there, ah me! that endure woes such as mine? But 
do thou clearly define to me what remains for me to suffer, 
what salve :! what remedy there is for my malady, discover 
to me, if at all thou knowest: speak, tell it to the wretched 
roaming damsel. 

Pr. I will tell thee clearly every thing which thou desirest 
to learn, not interweaving riddles, but in plain language, as 
it is right to open the mouth to friends. Thou seest him 
that bestowed fire on mortals, Prometheus. 

To. O thou that didst dawn a common benefit upon mor- 
tals, wretched Prometheus, as penance for what offense art 
thou thus suffering ? 

Pr. I have just ceased lamenting my own pangs. 

Io. Wilt thou not then accord to me this boon? 

Pr. Say what it is that thou art asking, for thou mightest 
learn everything from me. 

Io. Say who it was that bound thee fast in this cleft? 

Pr. The decree of Jupiter, but the hand of Vulcan. 

Io. And for what offenses art thou paying the penalty? 

Pr. Thus much alone is all that I can clearly explain to 
thee. 


1T have followed Dindorf’s elegant emendation, See his 
note, and Blomf. on Ag. 1. 


36 PROMETHEUS, [622-645. 


Io. At least, in addition to this, discover what time shall 
be to me woe-worn the limit of my wanderings. 

Pr. Not to learn this is better for thee than to learn it. 

Io. Yet conceal not from me what I am to endure. 

Pr. Nay, I grudge thee not this gift. 

Io. Why then delayest thou to utter the whole? 

Pr. ’Tis not reluctance, but I am loth to shock thy feel- 
ings. 

Io. Do not be more anxious on my account than is agree- 
able to me.! 

Pr. Since thou art eager, I must needs tell thee: attend 
thou. 

Cu. Not yet, however; but grant me also a share of the 
pleasure. Let us first learn the malady of this maiden, from 
her own tale of her destructive? fortunes ; but, for the sequel 
of her afilictions let her be informed by thee. 

Pr. It is thy part, Io, to minister to the gratification of 
these now before thee, both for all other reasons, and that 
they are the sisters of thy father. Since to weep and lament 
over misfortunes, when one is sure to win a tear from the 
listeners, is well worth the while. 

Io. I know not how I should disobey you; and in a plain 
tale ye shall learn everything that ye desire; and yet I am 
pained even to speak of the tempest that hath been sent upon 
me from heaven, and the utter marring of my person, whence 
it suddenly came upon me, a wretched creature ! For nightly 
visions thronging to my maiden chamber, would entice me 


1 After the remarks of Dindorf and Paley, it seems that the 
above must be the sense, whether we read ®v with Hermann, 
or take os for i o> with the above mentioned editor. 

2 Paley remarks that ras rod. réxas is used in the same man- 
ner as in Pers. 453, ¢@apévre> =“ shipwrecked ’’ (see his note), 
or “wandering.” He renders the present passage “ the adven- 
tures of her long wanderings.” 


646-679.] PROMETHEUS. 37 


with smooth words: ‘‘O damsel, greatly fortunate, why 
dost thou live long time in maidenhood, when it is in thy 
power to achieve a match the very noblest? for Jupiter is 
fired by thy charms with the shaft of passion, and longs 
with thee to share in love. But do not, my child, spurn 
away from thee the couch of Jupiter ; but go forth to Lerna’s 
fertile mead, to the folds and ox-stalls of thy father, that 
the eye of Jove may have respite from its longing.” By 
dreams such as these was I unhappy beset every night, until 
at length I made bold to tell my sire of the dreams that 
haunted me by night. And he dispatched both to Pytho 
and Dodona! many a messenger to consult the oracles, that 
he might learn what it behooved him to do or say, so as to 
perform what was well-pleasing to the divinities. And they 
came bringing a report back of oracles ambiguously worded, 
indistinct, and obscurely delivered. But at last a clear re- 
sponse came to Inachus, plainly charging and directing him 
to thrust me forth both from my home and my country, to 
stray an outcast to earth’s remotest limits; and that, if he 
would not, a fiery-visaged thunder-bolt would come from 
Jupiter, and utterly blot out his whole race. Overcome by 
oracles of Loxias such as these, unwilling did me expel and 
exclude me unwilling from his dwelling: but the bit of 
Jupiter® perforce constrained him to do this. And straight- 
way my person and my mind were distorted, and horned, as 
ye see, stung by the keenly-biting fly, I rushed with maniac 
boundings to the sweet stream of Cerchneia, and the foun- 
tain’ of Lerna; and the earth-born neatherd Argus of un- 


1 With the earlier circumstances of this narrative compare 
= beautiful story of Psyche in Apuleius, Met. IV. p. ‘157, sqq. 

m. 

2 Of Ag. 217, éxet & dvdyxas idv déxadvov, 

3 xpjvnv is the elegant conjecture of Canter, approved by 


38 PROMETHEUS. [680-707, 


tempered fierceness, kept dogging me, peering after my 
footsteps with thick-set eyes. Him, however, an unlooked- 
for sudden fate bereaved of life; but I hornet-stricken am 
driven by the scourge divine from land to land. Thou 
hearest what has taken place, and if thou art able to say 
what pangs there remain for me, declare them; and do not, 
compassionating me, warm me with false tales, for I pro- 
nounce fabricated statements to be a most foul malady. 

Cu. Ah! ah! forbear! Alas! Never, never did I expect 
that a tale [so] strange would come to my ears, or that suf- 
ferings thus horrible to witness and horrible to endure, out- 
rages, terrors with their two-edged goad, would chill my 
spirit. Alas! alas! O Fate! Fate! IshudderasI behold 
the condition of Io. 

Pr. Prematurely, however, are thou sighing, and art full 
of terror. Hold, until thou shalt also have heard the residue. 

Cu. Say on; inform me fully: to the sick indeed it is 
sweet to get a clear knowledge beforehand of the sequel of 
their sorrows. 

Pr. Your former desire at any rate ye gained from me 
easily ; for first of all ye desired to be informed by her re- 
cital of the afiliction’ that attaches to herself. Now give ear 
to the rest, what sort of sufferings it is the fate of this young 
damsel before you to undergo at the hand of Juno: thou too, 
seed of Inachus, lay to heart my words, that thou mayest be 
fully informed of the termination of thy journey. In the 


Dindorf. In addition to the remarks of the commentators, the 
tradition preserved by Pausanias II. 15, greatly confirms this 
emendation. He remarks, @épovs de ata odictv tort ra febpara, 
m\hv Tov év Aépun. It was probably somewhat proverbial. 

1 T shall not attempt to enter into the much-disputed geog- 
raphy of Io’s wanderings. So much has been said, and to so 
little purpose, on this perplexing subject, that to write addi- 
tional notes would be only to furnish more reasons for doubt- 
ing, 


708-738.] PROMETHEUS, 39 


first place, after turning thyself from this spot toward the 
rising of the sun, traverse unplowed fields ; and thou wilt 
reach the wandering Scythians, who, raised from off the 
ground, inhabit wicker dwellings on well-wheeled cars, 
equipped with distant-shooting bows; to whom thou must 
not draw near, but pass on out of their land, bringing thy 
feet to approach the rugged roaring shores. And on thy left 
hand dwell the Chalybes, workers of iron, of whom thou must 
needs beware, for they are barbarous, and not accessible to 
strangers. And thou wilt come to the river Hybristes,! not 
falsely so called, which do not thou cross, for it is not easy 
to ford, until thou shalt have come to Caucasus itself, loftiest 
of mountains, where from its very brow the river spouts 
forth its might. And surmounting its peaks that neighbor 
on the stars, thou must go into a southward track, where 
thou wilt come to the man-detesting host of Amazons, who 
hereafter shall make a settlement, Themiscyra, on the banks 
of Thermodon, where lies the rugged Salmydessian sea- 
gorge, a host by mariners hated, a step-dame to ships; and 
they will conduct thee on thy way, and that right willingly. 
Thou shalt come too to the Cimmerian isthmus, hard by the 
very portals of a lake, with narrow passage, which thou un- 
dauntedly must leave, and cross the Meotic frith ; and there 
shall exist for evermore among mortals a famous legend 
concerning thy passage, and afterthy name it shall be called 
the Bosphorus; and after having quitted European ground, 
thou shalt come to the Asiatic continent. Does not then 
the sovereign of the gods seem to you to be violent alike to- 
ward all things? for he a god lusting to enjoy the charms of 


1 Probably the Kurban. Schutz well observes that the words 
od Wevddvvpov could not be applied to an epithet of the poet’s own 
creation. Such, too, was Humboldt’s idea. See my first note 
on this play. 


40 PROMETHEUS. [739-764. 


this mortal fair one, hath cast upon her these wanderings. 
And a bitter wooer, maiden, hast thou found for thy hand; 
for think that the words which thou hast now heard are not 
even for a prelude. 

To. Woe is me! ah! ah! 

Pr. Thou too in thy turn! art crying out and moaning: 
what wilt thou do then, when thou learnest the residue of 
thy ills? 

Cu. What! hast thou aught of suffering left to tell to 
her? 

Pr. Ay, a tempestuous sea of baleful calamities. 

Io. What gain then is it for me to live? but why did I 
not quickly fling myself from this rough precipice, that dash- 
ing on the plain I had rid myself of all my pangs? for better 
is it once to die, than all one’s days to suffer ill. 

Pr. Verily thou wouldst hardly bear the agonies of me to 
whom it is not doomed to die. For this would be an escape 
from sufferings. But now there is no limit set to my hard- 
ships, until Jove shall have been deposed from his tyranny. 

Io. What! is it possible that Jupiter should ever fall from 
his power? ; 

Pr. Glad wouldst thou be, I ween, to witness this event. 

Io. And how not so, I, who through Jupiter am suffering 
ill? 

Pr. Well, then, thou mayest assure thyself of these things 
that they are so. 

Io. By whom is he to be despoiled of his sceptre of tyr- 
anny. 

Pr. Himself, by his own senseless counsels. 

To. In what manner? Specify it, if there be no harm, 

Pr. He will make such a match as he shall one day rue.? 


1 See Schutz and Griffiths. 
2 Wrapped in mystery as the liberation of Prometheus is in 


765-774. ] PROMETHEUS. 41 


Io. Celestial or mortal? If it may be spoken, tell me. 

Pr. But why ask its nature? for it is not a matter that I 
can communicate to you. 

Io. Is it by a consort that he is to be ejected from his 
throne? 

Pr. Yes, surely, one that shall give birth to a son mightier 
than the father.* 

Io. And has he no refuge from this misfortune ? 

Pr. Not he, indeed, before at any rate I after being liber- 
ated from my shackles— 

Io. Who, then, is he that shall liberate thee in despite of 
Jupiter? 

Pr. It is ordained that it shall be one of thine own de- 
scendants. 

Io. How sayest thou? Shall child of mine release thee 
from thy ills? 

Pr. Yes, the third of thy lineage in addition to ten other 
generations.’ 


this drama, it may be amusing to compare the following ex- 
tracts from the Short Chronicle prefixed to Sir I. Newton’s 
Chronology. 

“968. B.C. Sesak, having carried on his victories to Mount 
eatery leaves his nephew Prometheus there, to guard the 


s 337, The Argonautic expedition. Prometheus leaves Mount 
Caucasus, being set at liberty by Hercules,” etc.—Old Trans- 
lator. 

1 Stanley compares Pindar, Isth. vii. 33. 
rerpwpévov hy pép= 

-repov yévov [oi] avaxra warps rexety, 
And Apoll. Rhod. iv. 201. Also the words of Thetis herself in 
Nonuus, Dionys. xxxiii. 356. 

Zets pe rarhp idiwxe Kat HOedev és yapov Edxewv, 

el ph pov robéovra yépwv dvéxorre T]popnbets, 

OcoriSwv Kpoviwvos dpsiova ratda guredcat, 


2 “These were; 1. Epaphus; 2. Lybia; 3. Belus; 4. Danaus; 





42 PROMETHEUS. [775-797- 


Io. This prophecy of thine is no longer easy for me to form 
a guess upon. 

Pr. Nor seek thou to know over well thine own pangs. 

To. Do not, after proffering me a benefit, withhold it from 
me. 

Pr. I will freely grant thee one of two disclosures. 

Io. Explain to me first of what sort they are, and allow 
me my choice. 

Pr. I allow it thee; for choose whether I shall clearly tell 
to thee the residue of thy troubles, or who it is that is to be 
my deliverer. 

Cu. Of these twain do thou vouchsafe to bestow the one 
boon on this damsel, and the other on me, and disdain thou 
not my request. To her tell the rest of her wanderings, and 
to me him that is to deliver thee; for this I long [to hear]. 

Pr. Seeing that ye are eagerly bent upon it, I will not 
oppose your wishes, so as not to utter every thing as much 
as ye desire. To thee in the first place, Io, will I describe 
thy mazy wanderings, which do thou engrave on the record- 
ing tablets of thy mind. 

When thou shalt have crossed the stream that is the 
boundary of the Continents, to the ruddy realms of morn 
where walks the sun' . . .. . . . having passed 
over the roaring swell of the sea, until thou shalt reach the 
Gorgonian plains of Cisthene, where dwell the Phorcides, 
three swan-like aged damsels, that possess one eye in com- 
mon, that have but a single tooth, on whom ne’er doth the 
sun glance with his rays, nor the nightly moon. And hard 


5. Hypermnestra; 6. Abas; 7. Preetus; 8. Acrisius; 9. Danae; 
10. Perseus; 11. Electryon; 12. Alemena; 13. Hercules.”— 
Blomfield. 

1 For two ways of supplying the lacuna in this description 
of Io’s travels, see Dindorf and Paley. 


798-826. ] PROMETHEUS. 43 


by are three winged sisters of these, the snake-tressed Gor- 
gons, abhorred of mortals, whom none of human race can 
look upon and retain the breath of life.! Such is this cau- 
tion? which I mention to thee. Now lend an ear to another 
hideous spectacle; for be on thy guard against the keen- 
fanged hounds of Jupiter that never bark, the gryphons, and 
the cavalry host of one-eyed Arimaspians, who dwell on the 
banks of the gold-gushing fount, the stream of Pluto: go not 
thou nigh to these. And thou wilt reach a far-distant land, 
a dark tribe, who dwell close upon the fountains of the sun, 
where is the river Zthiops. Along the banks of this wend 
thy way, until thou shalt have reached the cataract where 
from the Bybline mountains the Nile pours forth his hal- 
lowed, grateful stream. This will guide thee to the trian- 
gular land of the Nile; where at length, Io, it is ordained 
for thee and thy children after thee to found the distant 
colony. And if aught of this is obscurely uttered, and hard 
to be understood, question me anew, and learn it thoroughly 
and clearly : as for leisure, I have more than I desire. 

Cu. If indeed thou hast aught to tell of her baleful wan- 
derings, that still remains or hath been omitted, say on ; but 
if thou hast told the whole, give to us in our turn the favor 
which we ask, and you, perchance, remember. 

Pr. She hath heard the full term of her journeying. 
And that she may know that she hath not been listening to 
me in vain, I will relate what hardships she endured before 
she came hither, giving her this as a sure proof of my state- 


1 Being turned intostone. Such was the punishment ofthe 
fire-worshipers in the story of the first Lady of Baghdad. See 
Arabian Nights, Vol. I., p. 198. The mythico-geographical al- 
lusions in the following lines have been so fully and so learn- 
edly illustrated, that I shall content myself with gaat to 
the commentators. 

2 See Linwood’s Lexicon and Griffiths’ note. 


44 PROMETHEUS. [827-8s2, 


ments. The very great multitude indeed of words I shall 
- omit, and I will proceed to the termination itself of thine 
aberrations. For after that thou hadst come to the Molos- 
sian plains, and about the lofty ridge of Dodona, where is 
the oracular seat of Thesprotian Jove, and a portent passing 
belief, the speaking oaks, by which thou wast clearly and 
without any ambiguity saluted illustrious spouse of Jove that 
art to be; if aught of this hath any charms for thee.! Thence 
madly rushing along the seaside track, thou didst dart away 
to the vast bay of Rhea, from which thou art tempest-driven 
in retrograde courses: and in time to come, know well that 
the gulf of the deep shall be called [O-nian, a memorial of 
thy passage to all mortals. These hast thou as tokens of my 
intelligence, how that it perceives somewhat beyond what 
appears. 

The rest I shall tell both to you and to her in common, 
after reaching the very identical track of my former narra- 
tive. There is on the land’s utmost verge a city Canopus, 
hard by the Nile’s very mouth and alluvial dike; on this 
spot Jupiter at length makes thee sane by merely soothing 
and touching thee with his unalarming hand. And named 
after the progeniture of Jupiter? thou shalt give birth to 
swarthy Epaphus, who shall reap the harvest of all the land 
which the wide-streaming Nile waters. But fifth in descent 

1 There is stiJl much doubt about the elision Zc«c@’, ei. Others 
read the passage interrogatively. See Griffiths and Dindorf. 


2 This pun upon the name of Epaphus is preserved by Mos- 
chus II. 50. 
év 0 hy Zeds, trapdpevos hpépa xewt Oestn 
néprios Ivaxins. rhv éxrarépw rapa Neirw 
x B6oS ebxepdo.o waAW perdpueBe yovaixa, 
and Nonnus, III. p. 62, 20: 
2v0’ "Exadgoy dui rixrev axnpaciwy Sri Kdd\rwv 
"Ivaxins dapddns éxagpfcaro Osios dxoirns 
xepoly épwoavéecoi— 


853-874.] PROMETHEUS. 45 


from him a generation of fifty virgins shall again come to 
Argos, not of their own accord, fleeing from incestuous wed- 
lock with their cousins; and these with fluttering hearts, 
like falcons left not far behind by doves, shall come pursuing 
marriage such as should not be pursued, but heaven shall be 
jealous over their persons ;! and Pelasgia shall receive them 
after being crushed by a deed of night-fenced daring, wrought 
by woman’s hand ; for each bride shall bereave her respec- 
tive husband of life, having dyed in their throats? a sword 
of twin sharp edge. Would that in guise like this Venus 
might visit my foes! But tenderness shall soften one® of the 
maidens, so that she shall not slay the partner of her 
couch, but shall be blunt in her resolve; and of the two al- 
ternatives she shall choose the former, to be called a coward 
rather than a murderess. She in Argos shall give birth toa 
race of kings. There needs a long discourse to detail these 
things distinctly ; but from this seed be sure shall spring a 
dauntless warrior renowned in archery, who shall set me 
free from these toils. Such predictions did my aged mother 


1 There is much difficulty in this passage. Dindorf under- 
stands éxcivwy (Hgypti filiorum), and so Paley, referring to his 
notes on Ag. 938, Suppl..437, Mr. Jelf, Gk. Gr., 2 696, Obs. 3, ap- 
pears to take the same view. There does not, therefore, seem 
any need of alteration. On the other interpretation some- 
times given to $06voy fet cwudrwy, see Linwood, v. ¢06vos, 

2 chayaict is rightly rendered “in jugulo” by Blomfield, 
after Ruhnk. Ep. Crit. I. p.71. To the examples quoted add 
Apul. Met. I. p. 108, “per jugulum sinistrum capulotenus 
gladium totum ei demergit,” and p. 110, “jugulo ejus vulnus 
dehiscit in patorem.” The expression vvxridpo piro Opdce is 
well illustrated by the words of Nonnus, 1. ¢. p. 64, 17. 

cai xpvgiois Xidéccot otdnpopspwv ext éxrpwv 
dpoeva yvprov Gpna xarebvace OAS évvd, — 


8 See Nonnus I. c. Ovid, ep. xiv. 51, sqq. 


‘Sed timor, et pietas crudelibus obstitit ausis: 
Castaque mandatum dextra refugit opus.” 


46 PROMETHEUS. [ 875-902. 


the Titaness Themis rehearse to me ; but how and when—to 
tell this requires a long detail, and thou in knowing it all 
wouldst be in nought a gainer. 

Io. Eleleu! Eleleu! Once more the spasm! and madden- 
ing frenzies inflame me—and the sting of the homet, wrought 
by no fire,? envenoms me; and with panic my heart throbs 
violently against my breast. My eyes, too, are rolling ina 
mazy whirl, and lam carried out of my course by the raging 
blast of madness, having no control of tongue, but my 
troubled words dash idly against the surges of loathsome 
calamity. 

[ Exit To. 

Cu. Wise was the man, ay, wise indeed, who first weighed 
well this maxim, and with his tongue published it abroad, ~ 
that to match in one’s own degree is best by far ;> and that 
one who lives by labor should woo the hand neither of any 
that have waxed wanton in opulence, nor of such as pride 
themselves on nobility of birth. Never, O Destines,* never 
“at - + + may ye behold me approaching as a 
nice the pirat of Jupiter : nor may I be® brought to the 
arms of any bridegroom from among the sons of heaven: 
for Iam in dread when I behold the maiden Io, contented 
with no mortal lover, greatly marred by wearisome wander- 
ings at the hand of Juno. For myself, indeed—inasmuch 
as wedlock on one’s own level is free from apprehension—I 
feel no alarm.® And oh ! never may the love of the mightier 

1 On cddxedos see Ruhnk. Tim. p. 123, and Blomfield. 

2 See Paley. ais never intensive. 

* On this admonition, generally attributed to Pittacus, see 
Griffiths, and for a modern illustration in the miseries of Sir 
John Anvil (or Enville), Knt., the Spectator, No. 299. 

4 Paley would supply nérvat bo complete the metre. 

5 T have followed Griffiths. 


6 Dindorf would throw out &popos, Paley dv dédia, remarking 
that the sense appears to require ére, 


903-929. ] PROMETHEUS., 47 


gods cast on me a glance that none can elude. This at least 
is a war without a conflict, accomplishing things impossible :* 
nor know I what might become of me, for I see not how I 
could evade the counsel of Jove. 

Pr. Yet truly shall Jove, albeit he is self-willed in his 
temper, be lowly, in such? wedlock is he prepared to wed, as 
shall hurl him out of his sovereignty and off his throne a 
forgotten thing; and the curse of his father Saturn shall 
then at length find entire consummation, which he impre- 
cated when he was deposed from his ancient throne. From 
disasters such as these there is no one of the gods besides 
myself that can clearly disclose to him a way of escape. I 
know this, and by what means. Wherefore let him rest on 
in his presumption, putting confidence in his thunders aloft, 
brandishing in his hand a fire-breathing bolt. For not one 
jot shall these suffice to save him from falling dishonored in 
a downfall beyond endurance ; such an antagonist is he now 
with his own hands preparing against himself, a portent that 
shall baffle all resistance; who shall invent a flame more po- 
tent than the lightning, and a mighty din that shall surpass 
the thunder; and shall shiver the ocean trident, that earth- 
convulsing pest, the spear of Neptune. And when he hath 
stumbled upon this mischief, he shall be taught how great 
is the difference between sovereignty and slavery. 

Cu. Thou forsooth art boding against Jupiter the things 
thou wishest. 

Pr. Things that shall come to pass, and that I desire to 
boot. 


1 Le. possessing resources even among impossibilities. Cf. 
Antig. 360. dzopos én’ oidév épxerat, and for the construction, 
Jelf, Gk. Gr. 2 581, 2. obs. 

f * T think Elmsley has settled the question in favor of rotoy 
Or olor, 


48 PROMETHEUS. [930-955. 


Cu. And are we to expect that any one will get the mas- 
tery of Jove? 

Pr. Ay, and pangs too yet harder to bear than these [of 
mine] shall he sustain. 

Cx. And how is it that thou art not dismayed blurting out 
words such as these ? 

Pr. Why at what should I be terrified to whom it is not 
destined to die? 

Cu. Yet perchance he will provide for thee affliction more 
grievous than even this. 

Pr. Let him do it then, all is foreseen by me. 

Cu. They that do homage to Adrasteia are wise. 

Pr. Do homage, make thy prayer, cringe to each ruler of 
the day. I care for Jove less than nothing; let him do, let 
him lord it for this brief span, e’en as he list, for not long 
shall he rule over the gods. But no more, for I descry 
Jove’s courier close at hand, the menial of the new monarch : 
beyond all [doubt] he has come to announce to us some 


news. 
Enter MEercury. 


Thee, the contriver, thee full of gall and bitterness, who 
sinned against the gods by bestowing their honors on crea- 
tures of a day, the thief of fire, I address. The Sire com- 
mands thee to divulge of what nuptials it is that thou art 
yaunting, by means of which he is to be put down from his 
power. And these things, moreover, without any kind of 
mystery, but each exactly as it is, do thou tell out; and en- 
tail not upon me, Prometheus, a double journey ; and thou 
perceivest that by such conduct Jove is not softened. 

Pr. High sounding, i’faith, and full of haughtiness is thy 
speech, as beseems a lackey of the gods. Young in years, ye 
are young in power ;! and ye fancy forsooth that ye dwell in 


1 “Tn Aschylus we seem to read the vehement language of 





956-977.] PROMETHEUS. 49 


a citadel impregnable against sorrow. Have I not known 
two monarchs! dethroned from it? And the third that now 
is ruler I shall also see expelled most foully and most quickly. 
Seem I to thee in aught to be dismayed at, and to crouch 
beneath the new gods? Widely, ay altogether, do I come 
short [of such feelings]. But do thou hie thee back the way 
by which thou camest : for not one tittle shalt thou learn of 
the matter on which thou questionest me. 

Mer. Yet truly ’twas by such self-will even before now 
that thou didst bring thyself to such a calamitous moor- 
ing. 

Pr. Be well assured that I would not barter my wretched 
plight for thy drudgery; for better do I deem it to be a 
lackey to this rock, than to be born the confidential courier 
of father Jove. Thus is it meet to repay insult in kind. 

Mer. Thou seemest to revel in thy present state. 

Pr. Revel! Would that I might see my foes thus revel- 
ing, and among these I reckon thee. 

Mer. What dost thou impute to me also any blame for thy 
mischances ? 

Pr. In plain truth, I detest all the gods, as many of them 
as, after having received benefits at my hands, are iniqui- 
tously visiting me with evils. 

Mer. I hear thee raving with no slight disorder. 


an old servant of exploded Titanism: with him Jupiter and the 
Olympians are but a new dynasty, fresh and exulting, inso- 
lent and capricious, the victory just gained and yet but imper- 
_ fectly secured over the mysterious and venerable beings who 
* had preceded, TIME, HEAVEN, OCEAN, EARTH and her gi- 
gantic progeny: Jupiter is still but half the monarch of the 
world; his future fall is not obscurely predicted, and even 
while he reigns, a gloomy irresistible destiny controls his 
power.”’—Quart. Rev. xxviii, 416. 
1 Uranus and Saturn, Cf. Agam. 167 sqq. 


3 


50 PROMETHEUS. [978-1001. 


Pr. Disordered I would be, if disorder it be to loathe 
one’s foes. 

Mer. Thou wouldst be beyond endurance, wert thou in 
prosperity. 

Pr. Woe’s me! 

Mer. This word of thine Jove knows not. 

Pr. Ay, but Time as he grows old teaches all things. 

Mer. And yet verily thou knowest not yet how to be dis- 
creet. 

Pr. No i’faith, or I should not have held parley with thee, 
menial as thou art. 

Mer. Thou seemest disposed to tell nought of the things 
which the Sire desires. 

Pr. In sooth, being under obligation as I am to him, I am 
bound to return his favor. 

Mer. Thou floutest me, forsooth, as if I were a boy. 

Pr. Why, art thou not a boy, and yet sillier than one, if 
thou lookest to obtain any information from me? There is 
no outrage nor artifice by which Jupiter shall bring me to 
utter this, before my torturing shackles shall have been loos- 
ened. Wherefore let his glowing lightning be hurled, and 
with the white feathered shower of snow, and thunderings 
beneath the earth let him confound and embroil the 
universe ; for nought of these things shall bend me so much 
as even to say by whom it is doomed that he shall be put 
down from his sovereignty. 

Mer. Consider now whether this determination seems 
availing. ‘ 

Pr. Long since has this been considered and resolved. 

Mer. Resolve, O vain one, resolve at length in considera- 
tion of thy present sufferings to come to thy right senses. 

Pr. Thou troublest me with thine admonitions as vainly as 


~ 1002-1026. ] PROMETHEUS, 51 


{thou mightest] a billow.! Never let it enter your thoughts 
that I, affrighted by the purpose of Jupiter, shall become 
womanish, and shall importune the object whom I greatly 
loathe, with effeminate upliftings of my hands, to release 
me from these shackles: I want much of that. 

Mer. With all that I have said I seem to be speaking to 
no purpose; for not one whit art thou melted or softened in 
thy heart by entreaties, but art champing the bit like a colt 
fresh yoked, and struggling against the reins. But on the 
strength of an impotent scheme art thou thus violent; for 
obstinacy in one not soundly wise, itself by itself availeth less 
than nothing. And mark, if thou art not persuaded by my 
words, what a tempest and three-fold surge of ills, from 
which there is no escape, will come upon thee. For in the 
first place the Sire will shiver this craggy cleft with thunder 
and the blaze of his bolt, and will overwhelm thy body, and 
a clasping arm of rock shall bear thee up. And after thou 
shalt have passed through to its close, a long space of time, 
thou shalt come back into the light ; and a winged hound 
of Jupiter, a blood-thirsting eagle, shall rayvenously man- 
gle thy huge lacerated frame, stealing upon thee an un- 
bidden guest, and [tarrying] all the live-long day, and shall 
banquet his fill on the black viands? of thy liver. To such 


1 Milton, Samson Agon. 
Dalilah. ‘‘I see thou art implacable, more deaf 
To prayers than winds or seas.” 
Merchant of Venice, Act 4, sc. 1. 
“You may as well go stand upon the beacu 
And bid the main flood bate his usual height.” 
See Schrader on Muszeus, 320. 

2 See Linwood’s Lexicon. Cf. Nonnus, Dionys, II. p. 45, 22, 
deopa dvywy dodéunris dpaprijcece TI pounders, 
firaros HBdovros apedéa datrvpovija 
ovpavins Onacdy Spy EXwv Toprija KedebOov, 


52 PROMETHEUS. [1027-1064. 


labors look thou for no termination, until some god shall 
appear as a substitute in thy pangs, and shall be willing to 
go both to gloomy Hades, and to the murky depths around 
Tartarus. Wherefore advise thee, since this is no fictitious 
vaunt, but uttered in great earnestness ; for the divine mouth 
knows not how to utter falsehood, but will bring every word 
to pass. But do thou look around and reflect, and never for 
a moment deem pertinacity better than discretion. 

Cu. To us, indeed, Mercury seems to propose no unsea- 
sonable counsel ; for he bids thee to abandon thy reckless- 
ness, and seek out wise consideration. Be persuaded ; for 
to a wise man ’tis disgraceful to err. 

Pr. To me already well aware of it hath this fellow urged 
his message ; but for a foe to suffer horribly at the hands of 
foes is no indignity. Wherefore let the doubly-pointed 
wreath of his fire be hurled at me, and ether be torn piece- 
meal by thunder, and spasm of savage blasts; and let the 
wind rock earth from her base, roots and all, and with 
' stormy surge mingle in rough tide the billow of the deep 
and the paths of the stars; and fling my body into black 
Tartarus, with a whirl, in the stern eddies of necessity. Yet 
by no possible means shall he visit me with death. 

Mer. Resolutions and expressions, in truth, such as these 
of thine, one may hear from maniacs. For in what point 
doth his fate fall short of insanity?! What doth it abate 
from ravings? But do ye then at any rate, that sympathize 
with him in his sufferings, withdraw hence speedily some- 
whither from this spot, lest the harsh bellowing of the 
thunder smite you with idiotcy. 

Cu. Utter and advise me to something else, in which 
too thou mayest prevail upon me; for in this, be sure, thou 


1 J have adopted Dindorf’s emendation. See his note, 


1065-1093. | PROMETHEUS. 53 


hast intruded a proposal not to be borne. How is it that 
thou urgest me to practice baseness? Along with him here 
,1 am willing to endure what is destined, for I have learned 
to abhor traitors; and there is no evil which I hold in 
greater abomination. 

Mer. Well, then, bear in mind the things of which I 
forewarn you: and do not, when ye have been caught in 
the snares of Até, throw the blame on fortune, nor ever at 
any time say that Jove cast you into unforeseen calamity: 
no indeed, but ye your ownselves: for well aware, and not 
on a sudden, nor in ignorance, will ye be entangled by 
your senselessness in an impervious net of Até. 

[Exit Mercury. 

Pr. And verily in deed and no longer in word doth the 
earth heave, and the roaring echo of thunder rolls bellow- 
ing by us ; and deep blazing wreaths of lightning are glaring, 
and hurricanes whirl the dust; and blasts of all the winds 
are leaping forth, showing one against the other a strife of 
conflict gusts ; and the firmament is embroiled with the deep.! 
Such is this onslaught that is clearly coming upon me from 
Jove, a cause for terror. O dread majesty of my mother 
Earth, O ether that diffusest thy common light, thou be- 
holdest the wrongs I suffer. 


1 How the cosmoramic effects here described were repre- 
sented on the stage, it is difficult to say, but such descriptions 
are by no means rare in the poets. Compare Museeus, 314, sqq. 
Lucan, I. 75 sqq. and a multitude in the notes of La Cerda on 
Virgil, En. I. 107, and Barthius on Claudian. Gigant. 31, sqq. 
Nonuus, Dionys. I. p. 12. 


Li Dimas & 


Wallace High School. 


Shelf. ..ceess 


[I-9. 


Diveocecsere® 


No. ssereseearereetttt 
THE SEVEN AGAINST THEBES. 











THE siege of the city of Thebes, and the description of the 
seven champions of the Theban and Argive armies, The 
deaths of the brothers Polynices and Eteocles, the mourn- 
ings over them, by their sisters Antigone and Ismene, and 
the public refusal of burial to the ashes of Polynices, against 
which Antigone boldly protests, conclude the play. 


PERSONS REPRESENTED. 


ETEOCLES. ; ISMENE. 
A MESSENGER. ANTIGONE. 
CHORUS OF THEBAN VIRGINS. A HERALD. 


SceneE. The Acropolis of Thebes.—Compare v. 227, ed. Blomf. 


Time. Early in the morning; the length of the action can 
scarcely be fixed with absolute certainty. It certainly did not 
exceed twelve hours, 


The expedition of “the Seven” against Thebes is fixed by 
Sir I. Newton, B.C. 928. Cf. of his Chronology, p. 27. Blair 
carries it as far back as B.C. 1225.—OLD TRANSLATOR. 


Errocies. Citizens of Cadmus! it is fitting that he should 
speak things seasonable who has the care of affairs on the 
poop of a state, managing the helm, not lulling his eyelids 
in slumber. For if we succeed, the gods are the cause; but 
if, on the other hand (which heaven forbid), mischance 
should befall, Eteocles alone would be much bruited through 
the city by the townsmen in strains clamorous and in wail- 
ings, of which may Jove prove rightly called the Averter to 


(54) 


10-34.] THE SEVEN AGAINST THEBES. 55° 


the city of the Cadmzans.!_ And now it behooves you—both 
him who still falls short of youth in its prime, and him who in 
point of age has passed his youth, nurturing the ample vigor 
of his frame and each that is in his prime,’ as is best fitting— 
to succor the city, and the altars of your country’s gods, so 
that their honors may never be obliterated ; your children 
too, and your motherland, most beloved nurse ; for she, tak- 
ing fully on herself the whole trouble of your rearing, nurtured 
you when infants crawling on her kindly soil, for her trusty 
shield-bearing citizens, that ye might be [trusty*] for this 
service. And, for the present indeed, up to this day, the 
deity inclines in our favor; since to us now all this time be- 
leaguered the war for the most part, by divine allotment, 
turns out well. But now, as saith the seer, the feeder* of 
birds, revolving in ear and thoughts,. without the use of fire, 
the oracular birds with unerring art—he, lord of such divin- 
_ ing powers, declares that the main Achean assault is this 
night proclaimed,® and [that the Achzans] attempt the city. 

But haste ye all, both to the battlements and the gates of 
the tower works; On! in full panoply throng the breast- 
works, and take your stations on the platforms of the: towers, 
and, making stand at the outlets of the gates, be of good 


1 Or, “of which may Jove the Averter be what his — 
imports. ” See Paley and Linwood’s Lex. 

2 This interpretation is now fully established, See Puboy: 
Thus Cesar, B. G. I. 29, “ qui arma ferre possent: "et item sepa- 
ratius pueri, senes ;” Il. 28, Eteocles wishes even the axpeto to 
assist in the common defense. 

3 microt is to be supplied with yévoiwée, 

4 Although forip may be compared with the Roman pullarius, 
yet the phrase is here probably only equivalent to deorérns 
pavrenparwy soon after. 

5 Paley prefers “ nocturno concilio agitari,” comparing Rhes. 
88, ras cas pos évvas pidaxes EOdvTES GOBw vuRrnyopovat, On the 
authority of Griffiths, I have supplied roids ’Axawvs before 
éxiBovaévew, ‘ 


56 THE SEVEN [35-59. 


heart, nor be over-dismayed at the rabble of the aliens ; God 
will give a happy issue. Moreover, I have also dispatched 
scouts and observers of the army, who will not, I feel assured, 
loiter on their way ; and when I have had intelligence from 
these, I shall, in no point, be surprised by stratagem. 

MEssENGER.—Most gallant Eteocles! sovereign of the 
Cadmeans, I have come bearing a clear account of the mat- 
ters yonder, from the army ; and I myself am eye-witness of 
the facts. For seven chieftains, impetuous leaders of bat- 
talions, cutting a bull’s throat,! over an iron-rimmed shield,? 
and touching with their hands the gore of the bull, by oath 
have called to witness* Mars, Enyo, and Terror, that delights 
in bloodshed, that either having wrought the demolition 
of our city they will make havoc of the town of the Cad- 
means, or having fallen will steep this land of ours in gore. 
Memorials too of themselves, to their parents at home, were 
they with their hands hanging in festoons* at the car of Adras- 
tus, dropping a tear, but no sound of complaint passed their 
lips. For their iron-hearted spirit glowing with valor was 
panting, as of lions that glare battle. And the report of 
these my tidings is not retarded by sluggishness. But I left 
them in the very act of casting lots, that so each of them, 
obtaining his post by lot, might lead on his battalion to our 
gates. Wherefore do thou with all speed marshal at the 
outlets of the gates the bravest men, the chosen of our city; 
for already the host of Argives hard at hand armed cap-a-pié 

1 See my note on Prom. 863. 2 See commentators. 

5 Cf. Jelf. Gk. Gr. ¢ 566, 2. - 

4 See Linwood, s. v. crégev. Paley compares v. 267, Ad¢upa 
ddwy dovpimnxe’ dyvois déuos Lrépw mpd vadvy, Adrastus alone had 
been promised a safe return home. 

5 Cf. Eum. 515, oixrov oixricairo, would utter cries of pity. Suppl. 
59, olxrov oixrpdy atwy, hearing one mournful piteous cry. The old 


translations rendered it, ‘‘no regret was expressed on their 
countenance,” 


60-77.] AGAINST THEBES. oe 


is in motion, is speeding onward, and white foam is staining 
the plain with its drippings from the lungs of their chargers. 
Do thou then, like the clever helmsman of a vessel, fence! 
our city before the breath of Mars burst like a hurricane 
upon it, for the main-land billow of their host is roaring. 
And for these measures do thou seize the very earliest oppor- 
tunity ; for the sequel I will keep my eye a faithful watch 
by day, and thou, knowing from the clearness of my detail 
the movements of those without, shalt be unscathed. 
[Exit MEssENGER. 
Er. O Jupiter! and earth! and ye tutelary deities! and 
thou Curse, the mighty Erinnys of my sire! do not, I pray, 
uproot with utter destruction from its very base, a prey to 
foemen, our city, which utters the language of Greece, and 
our native dwellings.? Grant that they may never hold the 
free land and city of Cadmusin a yoke of slavery ; but be ye 
our strength—nay, I trust that Iam urging our common in- 
terests, for a state that is in prosperity honors the divinities.* 
[Exit ErEoc.Es. 


1 Perhaps we might render ¢pézar, dam, in order to keep up 
the metaphor of the ship. Cf. Hom. Od. V. 346, ¢pdie dé piv 
pirecot dtaprepés oicvivnsr, The closing the ports of a vessel to 
keep out the water will best convey the meaning to modern 
readers. 

2 This seems the true meaning of é¢ecrfouvs, indigenous in 
Greece, as Blomfield interprets, quoting Hesych, ég¢éerios, airé- 
xOwv, vorxos, I], B. 125, etc. An Athenian audience, with their 
political jealousy of Asiatic influence, and pride of indigenous 
origin, would have appreciated this prayer as heartilyas the 
one. below, v. 158, ré6Aw dopirovoy ph rpodae’ ‘Erspoddvw orpard, 
which their minds would connect with more powerful associa- 
tions than the mere provincial differences of Boeotia and Argos. 
How great a stress was laid upon the ridicule of foreign dia- 
lect, may be seen from the reception of Pseudartabas in the 
Acharnians. 

3 Cf. Arist. Rhet. II. 17,6. The same sentiment, though ex- 
pressed the contrary way, occurs in Eur. Troad. 26, ’Epnpia yap 
row drav AGBy kaxh, Nocst rd radv Oscv ovdé ripacat Oédet, 


3* 


58 THE SEVEN [78-08. 


Cuorvs.! I wail over our fearful, mighty woes! the army 
is let loose, having quitted its camp, a mighty mounted host 
is streaming hitherward in advance? the dust appearing high 
in the air convinces me, a voiceless, clear, true messenger ; 
the noise of the clatter of their hoofs upon the plain,® reach- 
ing even to our couches, approaches my ears, is wafted on, 
and is rumbling like a resistless torrent lashing the moun- 
tain-side. Alas! alas! oh godsand goddesses, avert the ris- 
ing horror ; the white-bucklered*‘ well-appointed host is rush- 
ing on with a shout on the other side our walls, speeding its 
way to the city. Who then will rescue us, who then of gods 
and goddesses will aid us? Shall I then prostrate myself 
before the statues of the divinities? Oh ye blessed beings, 
seated on your glorious thrones, ’tis high time for us to cling. 
to your statues—why do we deeply sighing delay? Hear 
ye, or hear ye not, the clash of bucklers? When, if not now, 


1 The chorus survey the surrounding plains from a high part 
of the Acropolis of Thebes, as Antigone a ot top of the 
palace in the Pheenisse of Euripides, v. 103, s 

2 mpédpoyos—=so as to be foremost. Cf. Soph. Ata 108 pvy dda mpb- 
Spopoy dtvurépcd Kwiicaca Kade, 

3 This assage is undoubtedly corrupt, but Dindorf’s conjec- 
ture fre 0 énas dpévas dgos* SrAwy Krixos rorixpiprrerat, dca rédov Bod 
norarat, Bpaywet 6—, although ingenious, differs too much from 
the ductus literarum, to be considered safe. Paley from the in- 
terpretation of the Medicean MS. and the reading of Robortelli, 
eAlAcuvas, has conjectured AIA de yas éuds redi’ drAoxrizov, which 
seems preferable. Perhaps we might read éni dé yas redtordoxrirov 
aotv xpiux, Bod, by tmesis, for érixpiyrrerat, ZEschylus used the 
compound, dyxpinrecdat, Suppl. 790, and nothing is more common 
than such a tmesis. I doubt whether zedwzdoxrérov is not one 
of Aschylus’ own “ high-crested”’ compounds. Mr. Burges has 
kindly suggested a parallel passage of an anonymous author, 
quoted by Suidas, s. v. traparropévns : tarwy xpeperhovreav, ras yas 
Tots mooly durav braparropévns, dv\wy ovyKpovopévwy, 


* Cf. Soph, Antig. 106, 


99-142.] AGAINST THEBES. 59 


shall we set about the orison of the peplus' and chaplets? I 
perceive a din, a crash of no single spear. What wilt thou 
do? wilt thou, O Mars, ancient guardian of our soil, aban- 
don thine own land? God of the golden helm, look upon, 
look upon the city which once thou didst hold well-beloved. 
Tutelary gods of our country, behold,? behold this train of 
virgins suppliant to escape from slavery,* for around our 
city a surge of men with waving crests is rippling, stirred 
by the blasts of Mars. But, O Jove, sire all-perfect! avert 
thoroughly from us capture by the foemen ; for Argives are 
encircling the fortress of Cadmus ; and I feel'a dread of mar- 
tial arms, and the bits which are fastened through the jaws 
of their horses are knelling slaughter. And seven leaders 
of the host, conspicuous in their spear-proof harness, are tak- 
ing their stand at our seventh gate,‘ assigned their posts by 
lot. Do thou too, O Jove-born power that delightest in bat- 
tle, Pallas, become a savior to our city ; and thou, equestrian 
monarch, sovereign of the main, with thy fish-smiting tri- 
dent, O Neptune, grant a deliverance, a deliverance from our 
terrors. Do thou too, O Mars, alas! alas! guard the city 
which is named after Cadmus, and manifestly show thy care— 


1 Cf. Virg. An. I. 479; 

“Tnterea ad templum non eque Palladis ibant 
Crinibus Iliades passis, peplumque ferebant 
Suppliciter tristes ”— 

Statius, Theb. x. a 


“et ad patrias fuses Pelopeides aras 
Sceptriferm Junonis opem, reditumque suorum 
Exposcunt, pictasque fores, et frigida vultu 
, Saxa terunt, parvosque docent procumbere natos 
# # # e % # # 
Peplum etiam dono, cujus mirabile textum,” etc. 
2 Here there isa gapin the metre. See Dindorf. 
8 “pro vitanda servitute.”—Paley. 
* Not “at the seven gates,” as Valckenaer has clearly shown. 


60 THE SEVEN [ 143-172. 


and thou, Venus, the original mother of our race, avert [these 
ills]—for from thy blood are we sprung ; calling on thee with 
heavenward orisons do we approach thee. And thou, Ly- 
cean king, be thou fierce as a wolf! to the hostile army, 
[moved] by the voice of our sighs.? Thou too, virgin- 
daughter of Latona, deftly adorn thyself with thy bow, O 
beloved Diana, Ah! ah! ah! I hear the rumbling of cars_ 
around the city, O revered. Juno, the naves of the heavy- 
laden axles creak, the air is maddened with the whizzing 
of javelins—what is our city undergoing? What will be- 
come of it? To what point is the deity conducting the 
issue ?* ah! ah! A shower of stones too from their slingers 
is coming over our battlements. O beloved Apollo! there 
is the clash of brass-rimmed shields at the gates, and the 
just issue in battle must be decided by arms according to 
the disposal of Jove. And thou Onca,® immortal queen, 
that dwellest in front of our city, rescue thy seven-gated seat. 
O gods, all-potent to save, O ye gods and goddesses, perfect 
guardians of the towers of this land, abandon not our war- 
wasted city to an army of aliens. Listen to these virgins, 
listen to our all-just. prayers, as is most right, to the orisons 
of virgins which are offered with out-stretched hands. O 


1 The paronomasia can only be kept up by rendering, “do 
thou, king of wolves, fall with wolf-like fierceness,” etc. Miil- 
ler, Dorians, vol. i. p. 325, considers that Atxews is connected 
with Ad«n, light, not with AbxKos, a wolf. 

2 I follow Paley’s emendation, dtrai%s, 

3 See a judicious note of Paley’s. 

4 T have borrowed Griffiths’ translation. It seems impossible 
that dyvdy rédos could ever be a personal appeal, while cd re 
evidently shows that the address to Pallas Onca was uncon- 
nected with the preceding line. As there is probably a lacuna 
after Acé6cv, it is impossible to arrive at any certain meaning. 

5 See Stanley. ‘Oyxa is a Phenician word, and epithet of 
Minerva. 


173-206. ] AGAINST THEBES, 61 


beloved divinities, hovering around our city as its deliverers, 
show how ye love it; give heed to our public rituals, and 
when ye give heed to them succor us, and be ye truly mind- 
ful, I beseech ye, of the rites of our city which abound in 
sacrifices. 

Re-enter ETEOCLEs. 

Intolerable creatures! is this, I ask you, best and salutary 
for our city, and an encouragement to this beleagured force, 
for you to fall before the statues of our tutelary gods, to 
shriek, to yell—O ye abominations of the wise. Neither in 
woes nor in welcome prosperity may I be associated with 
womankind ; for when woman prevails, her audacity is more - 
than one can live with ; and when she is affrighted, she is a 
still greater mischief to her home and city. Even now, having 
brought upon your countrymen this pell-mell flight, ye have, 
by your outcries, spread dastard cowardice, and ye are serv- 
ing, as best ye may, the interests of those without, but we 
within our walls are suffering capture at our own hands; 
such blessings will you have if you live along with women. 
Wherefore if any one give not ear to my authority, be it 
man or woman, or other between [these names'], the fatal 
pebble shall decide against him, and by no means shall he 
escape the doom of stoning at the hand of the populace. 
For what passeth without is a man’s concern, let not woman 
offer advice—but remaining within do thou occasion no mis- 
chief. Heard’st thou, or heard’st thou not, oram I speaking 
to a deaf woman ? 

Cu. O dear son of CEdipus, I felt terror when I heard the 
din from the clatter of the cars, when the wheel-whirling 
naves rattled, and [the din] of the fire-wrought bits, the 


1 The boys, girls, etc. 


62 THE SEVEN [ 207-230. 


rudders! of the horses, passing through their mouths that 
know no rest. 

Er. What then? does the mariner who flees from the stern 
to the prow? find means of escape, when his bark is laboring 
against the billow of the ocean? 

Cx. No; but I came in haste to the ancient statues of the 
divinities, trusting in the gods, when there was a pattering 
at our gates of destructive sleet showering down, even then 
I was carried away by terror to offer my supplications to the 
Immortals, that they would extend their protection over 
the city. 

Er. Pray that our fortification may resist the hostile 
spear. 

Cu. Shall not this, then, be at the disposal of the gods? 

Er. Ay, but ’tis said that the gods of the captured city 
abandon it. 

Cu. At no time during my life may this conclave of gods 
abandon us: never may I behold our city overrun, and an 
army firing it with hostile flame. 

Er. Do not thou, invoking the gods, take ill counsel ; for 
subordination, woman, is the mother of saving success; so 
the adage runs. 

Cu. But the gods have a power superior still, and oft in 
adversity does this raise the helpless out of severe calamity, 
when clouds are overhanging his brow. 

Er. It is the business of men, to present victims and offer- 


1 Cf. Eur, Hippol. 1219, sqq. 
kat dsorérng pév tamiots év HOece 
rodbS Evvotkody hprac, fvias xXepaiv, 
Edxee dé Kodanv Sore vavBarns avip, 
2 Te. to adore the images placed at. the head of the vessel. 
See Griffiths. 


231-256.] AGAINST THEBES. 63 


ings of worship to the gods, when foemen are making an 
attempt: ’tis thine on the other hand to hold thy peace and 
abide within doors. 

Cu. ’Tis by the blessing of the gods that we inhabit a 
city unconquered, and that our fortification is proof against 
the multitude of our enemies. What Nemesis can feel 
offended at this? 

Er. I am not offended that ye should honor the race of 
the gods; but that thou mayest not render the citizens faint- 
hearted, keep quiet and yield not to excessive terrors. 

Cu. When I heard the sudden din, I came, on the very 
instant, in distracting panic to this Acropolis, a hallowed 
seat. 

Er. Do not now, if ye hear of the dying or the wounded, 
eagerly receive them with shrieks ; for with this slaughter of 
mortals is Mars fed. 

Cu. And I do in truth hear the snortings of the horses. 

Er. Do not now, when thou hearest them, hear too 
distinctly. 

Cu. Our city groans from the ground, as though the foes 
were hemming her in. 

Er. Is it not then enough that I take measures for this? 

Cu. I fear! for the battering at the gates increases. 

Er. Wilt thou not be silent? Say nought of this kind in 
the city. 

Cu. O associate band [of gods], abandon not our towers. 

Er. Can not ye endure it in silence, and confusion to 
ye? 

Cu. Gods of my city! let me not meet with slavery. 

Er. Thou thyself art making a slave both of me, of thy- 
self, and of the city. 

Cu. O all-potent Jove! turn the shaft against our foes. 

Er. O Jove! what a race hast thou made women ! 


64 THE SEVEN [257-283. 


Cu. Just as wretched as men when their city is taken. 

Er. Again thou art yelping as thou claspest the statues ! 

Cu. Yes, for in my panic terror hurries away my tongue. 

Er. Would to heaven that you would grant me a trifling 
favor on my requesting it. 

Cu. Tell me as quickly as you can, and I shall know at 
once. 

Er. Hold thy peace, wretched woman, alarm not thy 
friends. 

Cu. I hold my peace—with others I will suffer what is 
destined. 

Er. I prefer this expression of thine rather than thy 
former words ; and moreover, coming forth from the statues, 
pray thou for the best—that the gods may be our allies. 
And after thou hast listened to my prayers, then do thou 
raise the sacred auspicious shout of the Pan, the Grecian 
rite of sacrificial acclamation, an encouragement to thy 
friends that removes the fear of the foe. And I, to the 
tutelary gods of our land, both those who haunt the plains, 
and those who watch over the forum, and to the fountains of 
Dirce, and I speak not without those of the Ismenus,' if 
things turn out well and our city is preserved, do thus make 
my vows that we, dyeing the altars of the gods with the 
blood of sheep, offering bulls to the gods, will deposit tro- 
phies, and vestments of our enemies, spear-won spoils of the 
foe, in their hallowed abodes. Offer thou prayers like these 
to the gods, not with a number of sighs, nor with foolish and 
wild sobbings; for not one whit the more wilt thou escape 


1 This far-fetched interpretation of an absurd text is rightly 
condemned by W. Dindorf in his note, who elegantly reads 
with Lud. Dindorf tdaci x’ "Icpnvot, Paley has clearly shown 
the origin of the corruption. Linwood is equally disinclined 
to support the common reading. 


284-317.] AGAINST THEBES. 65 


Destiny. But I too, forsooth,! will go and marshal at the 
seven outlets of our walls, six men, with myself fora seventh, 
antagonists to our foes in gallant plight, before both urgent 
messengers and quickly-bruited tidings arrive, and inflame 
us by the crisis. [ Exit Errocues. 
Cu. I attend, but through terror my heart sleeps not, and 
cares that press close upon my heart keep my dread alive, 
because of the host that hems our walls? around; like as 
a dove, an all-attentive nurse, fears, on behalf of her brood, 
serpents evil intruders into her nest. Forsome are advanc- 
ing against the towers in all their numbers, in all their 
array ; (what will become of me?) and others are launching 
the vast rugged stone at the citizens, who are assailed on all 
sides. By every means, O ye Jove-descended gods! rescue 
the city and thearmy that spring from Cadmus. What better 
plain of land will ye take in exchange to yourselves than 
this, after ye have abandoned to our enemies the fertile land, 
and Dirce’s water best fed of all the streams that earth- 
encircling Neptune sends forth, and the daughters of Te- 
thys? Wherefore, O tutelary gods of the city! having 
hurled on those without the towers the calamity that 
slaughters men, and casts away shields, achieve glory for 
these citizens, and be your statues placed on noble sites, as 
deliverers of our city,* through our entreaties fraught with 


1 Blomfield reads éya dé y' avdpas, the change of AET to AEII 
being by no means a difficult one. Linwood agrees with this 
alteration, and Dindorf in his notes. But Paley still defends 
the common reading, thinking that én’ éx@pots is to be taken 
from the following line. I do not think the poet would have 
hazarded a construction so doubtful, that we might take é7i 
either with Gvdpas, éxepots, or by tmesis, with aw, 

2 The construction of the og cata accusative is well illus- 
trated in Jelf’s Gk. Gr. 2 580 

3 I have followed Bicmfeld, ‘and Dindorf in his notes, in 
reading xidos roteds wodiras, 


66 THE SEVEN [ 318-352; 


shrill groanings. For sad it is to send prematurely to de- 
struction an ancient city, a prey of slavery to the spear, in- 
gloriously overthrown in crumbling ashes by an Achzan 
according to the will of heaven; and for its women to be 
dragged away captives, alas! alas! both the young and the 
aged, like horses by their hair, while their vestments are 
rent about their persons. And the emptied city cries aloud, 
while its booty is wasted amid confused clamors; verily I 
fearfully forbode heavy calamities. And a mournful thing 
it is for [maidens] just marriageable,! before the celebration 
of rites for culling the fresh flower of their virginity, to 
have to traverse a hateful journey from their homes. What? 
I pronounce that the dead fares better than these ; for full 
many are the calamities, alas! alas! which acity undergoes 
when it has been reduced. One drags another,’ slaughters, 
and to parts he sets fire—the whole city is defiled with 
smoke, and raving Mars that tramples down the nations, 
violating piety, inspires them. Throughout the town are 
uproars, against the city rises the turreted circumvallation,® 
and man is slain by man with the spear. And the cries of 
children at the breast all bloody resound, and there is rapine 
sister of pell-mell confusion. Pillager meets pillager, and 
the empty-handed shouts to the empty-handed, wishing to 
have a partner, greedy for a portion that shall be neither less 
nor equal. What of these things can speech picture? Fruits 
of every possible kind strewn* upon the ground occasion 


1 This is perhaps the sense required; but, with Dindorf, I 
can not see how it can be elicited from the common reading. 
Perhaps Schneider’s a4pritpépors is right, which is approved by 
Dindorf, Linwood, and Paley. 

2 There is the same irregular antithesis between Gdov & dyee 
and ra dé (=rd dé) rvpdopet; as in Soph. Ant. 138, eixe 0’ Gda ra 
piv, Gada d én’ Gado érevipa—’ Apns. 

8 See Elmsl, on Eur. Bacch. 611. I follow Griffiths and Paley. 

* There is much difficulty in the double participle tod». 


353-382. ] AGAINST THEBES. 67 


sorrow, and dismal is the face of the stewards. And full 
many a gift of earth is swept along in the worthless streams, in 
undistinguished medley. And young female slaves have new 
sorrows, a foe being superior! and fortunate as to their 
wretched captive couch, so that they hope for life’s gloomy 
close to come, a guardian against their all-mournful sorrows. 

Sremi-Cu. The scout, methinks, my friends, is bringing us 
some fresh tidings from the army, urging in haste the for- 
warding axles? of his feet. 

Semi-Cu. Ay, and in very truth, here comes our prince, 
son of CEdipus, very opportunely for learning the messen- 
ger’s report—and haste does not allow him to make equal 
footsteps.* 

[ Re-enter MESSENGER and Ereoc.Es from different sides. 

Mes. I would fain tell, for I know them well, the arrange- 
ments of our adversaries, and how each has obtained his lot 
at our gate. Tydeus now for some time has been raging hard 
by the gates of Preetus ; but the seer allows him not to cross 
the stream of Ismenus, for the sacrifices are not auspicious. 
So Tydeus, raving and greedy for the fight, roars like a ser- 
pent in its hissings beneath the noontide heat, and he smites 
the sage seer, son of Oicleus, with a taunt, [saying] that he 


xypjoas, Dindorf would altogether omit «»picas,as a gloss. 
But surely recy was more likely to be added as a gloss, than 
xuphoas. I think that the fault probably lies in recw», 

1 This passage is scarcely satisfactory, but I have followed 
Paley. Perhaps if we place a comma after treprépo», and treat 
as dvdp, 6, ix, edrvx. as a genitive absolute, there will be less ab- 
ruptness, sAris éor: standing for éAriSove:, by a frequent enallage. 

2 The turgidity of this metaphor is almost too much even 
for Aschylus! 

3 The multitude of interpretations of the common reading 
are from their uniform absurdity sufficient to show that itis 
corrupt. I have chosen the least offensive, but am still certain 
that araprife is indefensible. Hermann (who, strange to say, 
is followed by Wellauer) reads xarapyiSet, Blomfield xaraprive:, 


68 THE SEVEN [ 383-404. 


is crouching to both Death and Battle out of cowardice. 
Shouting out such words as these, he shakes there shadowy 
crests, the hairy honors of his helm, while beneath his 
buckler bells cast in brass are shrilly pealing terror: on 
his buckler too he has this arrogant device—a gleaming sky 
tricked out with stars, and in the centre of the shield a 
' brilliant full moon is conspicuous, most august of the 
heavenly bodies, the eye of night. Chafing thus in his 
vaunting harness, he roars beside the bank of the river, 
enamored of conflict, like a steed champing his bit with 
rage, that rushes forth when he hears the voice of the trum- 
pet. Whom wilt thou marshal against this [foe]? Who, 
when the fastenings give way, is fit to be intrusted with the 
defense of the gate of Preetus ? 

Er. At no possible array of a man should I tremble; and 
blazonry has no power of inflicting wounds, and crests and 
bell bite not? without the spear. And for this night which 
thou tellest me is sparkling on his buckler with the stars of 
heaven, it may perchance be a prophet in conceit;* for if 
night shall settle on his eyes as he is dying, verily this 
vaunting device would correctly and justly answer to its 
name, and he himself will have the insolence ominous 

1 Besides Stanley’s illustrations, see Priceeus on Apul. Apol. 

. 58. Pelagonius in the Geoponica, XVI. 2, observes dyaéod dé 
immo} Kat rovro rexuhpiov, ray Eornkas ph dvéxnrat, dd\d\a Kpordy rhv 
yiv Gorep rpéxew érigouh. St. Macarius Hom. XXIII. 2, éray dé 
pan (6 inros) kal cvvedicdn eis rdv méNEnov, Grav dohpavO} Kai dxoban 
gwviv rodépov, dvrds Eroipws %pxerar int rods ExOpods, dare Kat dn’ 
avriis ris dwvis mrénow éurot ety rots mvdeuiois, Marmion, 
Canto V,, 

“Marmion, like charger in the stall, 


That hears without the trumpet’s call, 
Began to chafe and swear.” 
2 See Boyes’ Illustrations, p. 11. 
8 This seems to be the sense of pavris évvoia, Blomfield 
would add évvofa to the dative, which is easier. 


405-431 | AGAINST THEBES. 69 


against himself. But against Tydeus will I marshal this 
wary son of Astacus, as defender of the portals, full nobly 
born, and one that reverences the throne of Modesty, and 
detests too haughty language, for he is wont to be slow at 
base acts, but no dastard. And from the sown heroes whom 
Mars spared is Melanippus sprung a scion, and he is thor- 
oughly a native. But the event Mars with his dice will 
decide. And justice, his near kinswoman, makes him her 
champion,! that he may ward off the foeman’s spear from 
the mother that bare him. 

Cu. Now may the gods grant unto our champion to be 
successful, since with justice? does he speed forth in defense 
of the city ; but I shudder to behold the sanguinary fate of 
those who perish in behalf of their friends. 

Mes. To him may the gods so grant success. But Capa- 
neus has by lot obtained his station against the Electran 
gate. This is a giant, greater than the other aforementioned, 
and his vaunt savors not of humanity ; but he threatens hor- 
rors against our towers, which may fortune not bring to 
pass! for he declares, that whether the god is willing or 
unwilling, he will make havoc of our city, and that not the 
Wrath? of Jove, dashing down upon the plain, should stop 
him. And he is wont to compare both the lightnings and 
the thunder-bolts to the heat of noontide. He has a bearing 


1 So Linwood. Justice is styled the near relation of Mela- 
nippus, because he was aicxpdy apyds, v, 406. The scholiast 
however interprets it ré ris fuyyevetas dixawoy, 

2 Dindorf’s substitution of dtxafas for dixaiws is no improve- 
ment. Paley’s dixaws is more elegant, but there seems little 
reason for alteration. 

3 Probably nothing more than the lightning is meant, as 
Blomfield supposes. Paley quotes Eur. Cycl. 328, rér\ov xpote:, 
Atés Bpovraicw eis Epw xrvrwv, And this agrees with the fate 
of Capaneus as described in Soph. Antig. 131, sqq.; Nonnus, 
XXVIII. p. 480; Eur. Phen. 1187, sqq. 


70 THE SEVEN [432-456. 


too, a naked man bearing fire, and there gleams a torch with 
which his hands are armed ;} and, in letters of gold, he is 
uttering, | WILL BURN THE city. Against a man such as 
this do thou send?—-——. Who will engage with him? 
Who will abide his vaunting and not tremble? 

Er. And in this case® also one advantage is gained upon 
another. Of the vain conceits of man in sooth the tongue of 
truth becomes accuser. But Capaneus is menacing, prepared 
for action, dishonoring the gods, and practicing his tongue 
in vain exultation; mortal as he is, he is sending loud- 
swelling words into heaven to the ears of Jove. But I trust 
that, as he well deserves, the fire-bearing thunder-bolt will 
with justice come upon him, in no wise likened to the noontide 
warmth of the sun. Yet against him, albeit he is a very 
violent blusterer, is a hero marshaled, fiery in his spirit, 
stout Polyphontes, a trusty guard by the favor of Diana our 
protectress, and of the other gods. Mention another who 
hath had his station fixed at another of our gates. 

Cu. May he perish* who proudly vaunts against our city, 
and may the thunder-bolt check him before that he bursts 
into my abode, or ever, with his insolent spear force us 
away from our maiden dwellings. 

Mes. And verily I will mention him that hath next had 





1 Blomfield compares Eur. Bacch. 733, @épcor dui xepoty 
am\opévas, But the present construction is harsher. 

2 See Blomfield. 

8 T follow Blomfield and Paley. 

4 “We embrace this opportunity of making a grammatical 
observation with respect to the older poets, which, to the best 
of our knowledge, has not hitherto been noticed by any gram- 
marian or critic. Wherever a wish or a prayer is expressed, 
either by the single optative mood of the verb, or with pi, <6<, 
el yap, ete yap, the verb is in the second aorist, ‘if it havea dis- 
tinct second aorist; otherwise it may be in the present tense, 
but is more frequently in the first aorist.”—Edinb. Rey. xix. 


457-486.] AGAINST THEBES, 71 


his post allotted against our gates: for to Eteoclus, third in 
order, hath the third lot leapt from the inverted helm of 
glittering brass, for him to advance his battalion against 
the gates of Neis; and he is wheeling his steeds fuming in 
their trappings, eager to dash forward against the gates. 
And their snafiles ring, in barbarian fashion, filled with the 
breath of their snorting nostrils. His buckler, too, hath 
been blazoned in no paltry style, but a man in armor is 
treading the steps of a ladder to his foemen’s tower, seeking 
to storm it. And this man, in a combination of letters, is 
shouting, how that not even Mars should force him from the 
bulwarks. Do thou send also to this man a worthy cham- 
pion to ward off from this city the servile yoke. 

Er. I will send this man forthwith, and may it be with 
good fortune; and verily he is sent, bearing his boast in 
deed,’ Megareus, the offspring of Creon, of the race of the 
sown ;? who will go forth from the gates not a whit terrified 
at the noise of the mad snortings of the horses; but, either 
by his fall will fully pay the debt of his nurture to the land, 
or, having taken two men* and the city on the shield, will 
garnish with the spoils the house of his father. Vaunt thee 
of another, and spare me not the recital. 

Cu. I pray that this side may succeed, O champion of my 
dwellings! and that with them it may go ill; and as they, 
with frenzied mind, utter exceedingly proud vaunts against 
our city, so may Jove the avenger regard them in his wrath. 

Mes. Another, the fourth, who occupies the adjoining 
gates of Onca Minerva, stands hard by with’ a shout, the 


1 Te. not bearing a braggart inscription, but putting confi- 
dence in his own valor. od was rightly thrown out by Erfurdt. 
See Paley. 

2 T.e. from the dragon’s teeth sown by Cadmus. 

3 Eteoclus and the figure on his shield. 


72 THE SEVEN [487-514. 


shape and mighty mould of Hippomedon; and I shuddered 
at him as he whirled the immense orb, I mean the circum- 
ference of his buckler—I will not deny it. And assuredly 
it was not any mean artificer in heraldry who produced this 
work upon his buckler, a Typhon, darting forth through 
his fire-breathing mouth dark smoke, the quivering sister 
of fire, and the circular cavity of the hollow-bellied shield 
hath been made farther solid with coils of serpents. He 
himself, too, hath raised the war-cry; and, possessed by 
Mars, raves for the onslaught, like a Thyiad,' glaring ter- 
ror. Well must we guard against the attack of such a man 
as this, for Terror is already vaunting himself hard by our 
gates. 

Er. In the first place, this Onca Pallas, who dwells in our 
suburbs, living near the gates, detesting the insolence of the 
man, will drive him off, as a noxious serpent from her 
young. And Hyperbius, worthy son of CEnops, hath been 
chosen to oppose him, man to man, willing to essay his 
destiny in the crisis of fortune ; he is open to censure neither 
in form, nor in spirit, nor in array of arm: but Mercury 
hath matched them fairly ; for hostile is the man to the man 
with whom he will have to combat, and on their bucklers 
will they bring into conflict hostile gods; for the one hath 
fire-breathing Typhon, and on the buckler of Hyperbius | 
father Jove is seated firm, flashing, with his bolt in his 
hand; and never yet did any one know of Jove being by 
any chance vanquished.? Such in good sooth is the friend- 


1 Like a Bacchic devotee, See Virg. An. IV. 301, sqq. So 
in the Agamemnon, v. 477. 
paprupet dé pot kaos 
mndod Y6vovpos, de¥ia Kévic, rdde, 
2 Cf. Ag.174. Zhva dé rig tmwixia er\QSwv, Tebferar dpevwv rd rdv, 
Dindorf would omit all the following lines. There is some 
difficulty about the sense of zpocdidteca, which I think Pauw 


515-537-] AGAINST THEBES, 73 


ship of the divinities ; we are on the side of the victors, but 
they on that of the conquered, if at least Jove be mightier 
in battle than Typhon. Wherefore ’tis probable that the 
combatants will fare accordingly ; and to Hyperbius, in ac- 
cordance with its blazonry, may Jove that is on his shield 
become a savior. 

Cu. I feel confident that he who hath upon his shield 
the adversary of Jove, the hateful form of the subterranean 
fiend, a semblance hateful both to mortals and the everliving 
gods, will have to leave his head before our gates. 

Mes. May such be the issue! But, farthermore, I men- 
tion the fifth, marshaled at the fifth gate, that of Boreas, by 
the very tomb of Jove-born Amphion. And he makes oath 
by the spear! which he grasps, daring to revere it more than 
a god, and more dearly than his eyes,” that verily he will 
make havoc of the city of the Cadmzans in spite of Jove: 
thus says the fair-faced scion of a mountain-dwelling mother, 
a stripling hero, and the down is just making its way through 
his cheeks, in the spring of his prime, thick sprouting hair. 
And he takes his post, having a ruthless spirit, not answer- 
ing to his maidenly name,* and a savage aspect. Yet not 
best explains as meaning “such is the god that respectively 
befriends each of these champions.” 

1 Cf. Apollon. Rhod. I. 466, "Iorw viv ddpv Oodpov orw mepidorov 
&d\wy KddrAS Evt wrodéporow defpopat, obdé pv’ bpEArEL Zeds réc0v, bocd- 
rv tep éndv dbpv. Statius Theb. ix. 649—‘‘ades o mihi dextera 


tantum Tu presens bellis, et inevitabile numen, Te voco, te 
solam superum contemptor adoro.” See Cerda on Virg. An, X. 


3 
2 So Catullus, iii. 4, 5. 
Passer, delicize mes puelle, 
Quem plus illa oculis suis amabat. 

And Vathek, p. 124 (of the English version), ‘‘ Nouronihar 
loved her cousin more than her own beautiful eyes.””—OLD 
TRANSLATOR. See Valcken..on Theocrit. xi. 53. 

3 A pun upon the word rapéévos in the composition of Par- 
thenopzeus’s name, 


4 


74 THE SEVEN [538-566, 


without his vaunt does he take stand against our gates, for 
on his brazen-forged shield the rounded bulwark of his body, 
he was wielding the reproach of our city, the Sphinx of 
ruthless maw affixed by means of studs, a gleaming embossed 
form ; and under her she holds a man, one of the Cadmeans, 
so that against this man! most shafts are hurled. And he, a 
youth, Parthenopeus an Arcadian, seems to have come to 
fight in no short measure,” and not to disgrace the length of 
way that he has traversed ; for this man, such as he is, is a 
sojourner, and, by way of fully repaying Argos for the 
goodly nurture she has given him, he utters against these 
towers menaces, which may the deity not fulfill. 

Er. O may they receive from the gods the things which 
they are purposing in those very unhallowed vaunts! As- 
suredly they would perish most miserably in utter destruc- 
tion. But there is [provided] for this man also, the Arca- 
dian of whom you speak, a man that is no braggart, but his 
his hand discerns what should be done, Actor, brother of the 
one aforementioned, who will not allow either a tongue, 
without deeds, streaming within our gates, to aggravate 
mischiefs, nor him to make his way within who bears upon 
his hostile buckler the image of the wild beast, most odious 
monster, which from the outside shall find fault with him 
who bears it within, when it meets with a thick battering 
under the city. So, please the gods, may I be speaking the 
truth. 

Cu. The tale pierces my bosom, the locks of my hair 
stand erect, when I hear of the big words of these proudly- 


1 The figure on the shield is undoubtedly the one meant. 

2 Te. “he will fight by wholesale.” See comm. Perhaps the 
English phrase to “deal a blow,” to ‘‘lend a blow,” is the 
nearest approximation to this curious idiom. Boyes quotes 
some neat illustrations. 


567-585.] AGAINST THEBES. 95 


vaunting impious men. Oh! would that the gods would 
destroy them in the land. 

Mes. I will tell of the sixth, a man most prudent, and in 
valor the best, the seer, the mighty Amphiaraus; for he, 
having been marshaled against the gate of Homolois, reviles 
mighty Tydeus full oft with reproaches, as the homicide, the 
troubler of the state, chief teacher of the mischiefs of Argos, 
the summoner of Erinnys, minister of slaughter, and adviser 
of these mischiefs to Adrastus. Then again going up! to thy 
brother, the mighty Polynices, he casts his eye aloft, and, at 
last, reproachfully dividing his name [into syllables,”] he 
calls to him : and through his mouth he gives utterance to 
this speech—‘‘ Verily such a deed is well-pleasing to the 
gods, and glorious to hear of and to tell in after times, that 
you are making havoc of your paternal city, and its native 
gods, having brought into itaforeignarmament. And what 
Justice shall staunch the fountain of thy mother’s tears? 


1 This passage is a fair instance of the impossibility of con- 
struing certain portions of Aschylus as they are edited. Din- 
dorf in his notes approves of Dobree’s emendation, kai rév ody 
atr’ ddchpdv é¢ warpds pbpov "Efurrid Swy ovopa, and so Paley, except 
that he reads éuyna with Schutz, and renders it “oculo in patrio 
Gdipi fatum religiose sublato.”’ Blomfield’s zpocps\wy bydoropov 
seems simpler, and in better taste. 4uéerpov was doubtless ob- 
literated by the gloss ddeAgéov (an Ionic form ill suited to the 
senarius), and the dyowrédevroy caused the remainder of the 
error. Burges first proposed épécropov in Troad. Append. p. 134, 
D. As to Paley’s idea that Gdipus’ death was caused * per 
contentiorim filii indolem,” I can not find either anthority for 
the fact, or reason for its mention here, and I have therefore 
followed Blomfield. Dindorf’s translation I can not under- 
stand. The explanations of é{u7r:a$wy ovova are amusing, and 
that is all. 

2 Te. saying [lodtverxes rodvverxes, Paley ingeniously remarks 
that évdareic@a is here used in a double sense, both of dividing 
and reproaching. See his note, and cf. Phen. 636. dAnéws 


Svona Tlodvveixn marhp E0eré oor Ocia, rpovoia, vexéwy éxivopov, 


76 | THE SEVEN [586-6r5. 


And how can thy father-land, after having been taken by the 
spear through thy means, ever be an ally to thee? J, for 
my part, in very truth shall fatten this soil, seer as I am, 
buried beneath a hostile earth. Let us to the battle, I look 
not for a dishonorable fall.’’ Thus spake the seer, wielding 
a fair-orbed shield, all of brass; but no device was on its 
circle—for he wishes not to seem but to be righteous, reap- 
ing fruit from a deep furrow in his mind, from which sprout 
forth his goodly counsels. Against this champion I advise 
that thou send antagonists, both wise and goud. A dread. 
adversary is he that reveres the gods. 

Er. Alas! for the omen! that associates a righteous man 
with the impious! Indeed in every matter, nothing is worse 
than evil fellowship—the field of infatuation has death for ° 
its fruits? For whether it be that a pious man hath em- 
barked in a vessel along with violent sailors, and some vil- 
lany, he perishes with the race of men abhorred of heaven; 
or, being righteous, and having rightly fallen into the same 
toils with his countrymen, violators of hospitality, and un- 
mindful of the gods, he is beaten down, smitten with the 
scourge of the deity, which falls alike onall. Now this seer, 
I mean the son of Oicleus, a moderate, just, good, and pious 
man, a mighty prophet, associated with unholy bold-mouthed 
men, in spite of his [better] judgment, when they made their 
long march, by the favor of Jove, shall be drawn along with 
them to go to the distant city.* I fancy, indeed, that he 


1 See Griffiths. 

2 Porson, and all the subsequent editors have bracketed this 
verse as spurious, but the chief objection to this sense of 
kaprifecGac seems to be obviated by Paley. See his note. 

3 Either with 74 or 76\w there is much difficulty, as with- 
out an epithet 75\s seems harshly applied to Hades. Paley 
thinks that rv paxpay refers both to rou7viv and wokw, Dindorf 
adopts his usual plan when a difficulty occurs, and proposes to 


616-640. ] AGAINST THEBES. 77 


will not make an attack on our gates, not as wanting spirit, 
nor from cowardice of disposition, but he knows that it is his 
doom to fall in battle, if there is to be any fruit in the oracles 
of Apollo: ’tis his wont too to hold his peace, or to speak 
what is seasonable. Nevertheless against him we will mar- 
shal a man, mighty Lasthenes, a porter surly to strangers, 
and who bears an aged mind, but a youthful form; quick is 
his eye, and he is not slow of hand to snatch his spear made 
naked from his left hand.! But for mortals to succeed is a 
boon of the deity. 

Cu. O ye gods, give ear to our righteous supplications, 
and graciously bring it to pass that our city may be success- 
ful, while ye turn the horrors wrought by the spear upon the 
invaders of our country ; and may Jove, having flung them 
[to a distance] from our towers, slay them with his thunder- 
bolt. ‘ 

Mes. Now will I mention this the seventh, against the 
seventh gate, thine own brother—what calamities too he im- 
precates and prays for against our city ; that, he having scaled 
the towers, and been proclaimed? to the land, after having 
shouted out the pean of triumph at the capture, may engage 
with thee; and, having slain thee, may die beside thee, or 
avenge himself on thee alive, that dishonored, that banished 
him,* by exile after the very samemanner. This does mighty 
Polynices clamor, and he summons the gods of his race and 


omit the line. Fritzsche truly said of this learned critic, that 
if he had the privilege of omitting every thing he could not un- 
derstand, the plays of the Grecian dramatists would speedily 
be reduced to a collection of fragments. 

1 When the spear was not in use, it was held in the left hand, 
under the shield. See Blomfield. 

2 Sc. king, or victor. Blomfield adopts the former, 

3 This passage is not satisfactory. Paley reads dvdpndarady, 
but Iam doubtful about ras . . . . rovde . . . rpdrov, 


4* 


78 - THE SEVEN [641-674. 


fatherland to regard his supplications. _He has, moreover, a 
newly-constructed shield, well suited [to his arm] and a double 
device wrought upon it. For a woman is leading on a 
mailed warrior, forged out of brass, conducting him 
decorously ; and so she professes to be Justice, as the in- 
scription tells: I WILL BRING BACK THIS MAN, AND HE 
SHALL HAVE THE CITY OF HIS FATHERS, AND A DWELLING 
IN THE PALACE. Such are their devices ; and do thou thy- 
self now determine whom it is that thou thinkest proper to 
send: since never at any time shalt thou censure me for my 
tidings; but do thou thyself determine the management of 
the vessel of the state. 

Er. O heaven-frenzied, and great abomination of the 
gods! Oh! for our race of Cidipus, worthy of all mourn- 
ing—Alas for me! now verily are the curses of my sire 
coming to an accomplishment. But it becomes me not to 
weep or wail, lest birth be given to a lament yet more intoler- 
able. But to Polynices, that well deserves his name, I say, 
soon shall we know what issue his blazonry will have; 
whether letters wrought in gold, vainly vaunting on his 
buckler, along with frenzy of soul will restore him. If 
indeed Justice, the virgin daughter of Jove, attended on 
his actions or his thoughts, perchance this might be. But 
neither when he escape the darkness of the womb, nor in 
his infancy, nor ever in his boyhood, nor in the gathering 
of the hair on his chin, did Justice look on him, or deem 
him worthy her regards: nor truly do I suppose that she 
will now take her stand near to him, in his ill-omened 
possession of his father-land. Truly she would then in all 
reason be falsely called Justice, were she to consort with a 
man all-daring in his soul. Trusting in this I will go, and 
face him in person. Who else could do so with better right? 
Leader against leader, brother against brother, foeman with 


675-698.] AGAINST THEBES. 79 


foeman, shall I take mystand. Bring me with all speed my 
greaves, my spear, and my armor of defense against the stones, 
[ Evit MessENGER. 

Cx. Do not, O dearest of men, son of (Xdipus, become in 
wrath like to him against whom thou hast most bitterly 
spoken. Enough it is that Cadmzans come to the encounter 
with Argives. For such bloodshed admits of expiation. But 
the death of own brothers thus mutually wrought by their 
own hands—of this pollution there is no decay. 

Er. If any one receives evil without disgrace, be it so; 
for the only advantage is among the dead: but of evil and 
disgraceful things, thou canst not tell me honor. 

Cu. Why art thou eager, my son? let not Até, full of 
wrath, raging with the spear, hurry thee away—but banish 
the first impulse of [evil] passion 

Er. Since the deity with all power urges on the matter, 
let the whole race of Laius, abhorred by Phebus, having 
received for its portion the wave of Cocytus, drift down with 
the wind. 

Cu. So fierce a biting lust for unlawful blood hurries thee 
on to perpetrate the shedding of a man’s blood, of which the 
fruit is bitter.! 

Er. Ay, for the hateful curse of my dear father, consum- 
mated, sits hard beside me with dry tearless eyes, telling me 
that profit comes before my after doom.? 

Cu. But do not accelerate it; thou wilt not be called das- 
tardly if thou honorably preservest thy life—and Erinnys,* 

1 In the original there is, perhaps, a slight mixture of con- 
struction, Gmaros partly depending upon «épros implied in 
mtxpéxaprov, and partly upon dvdpoxractay, dvdpoxr,.ain, being the 
slaughter of a man, by which his blood is shed. 

2 Wellauer: denuntians lucrum, quod prius erit morte posteriore: 
i.e. vietoriam quam sequetur mors. And so Griffiths and Paley. 

3 Shakespeare uses this name in the opening speech of King 
Henry, in part I.: 


80 THE SEVEN [699-721. 


with her murky tempest, enters not the dwelling where the 
gods receive a sacrifice from the hands [of the inmates]. 

Er. By the gods, indeed, we have now for some time been 
in a manner neglected, and the pleasure which arises from 
our destruction is welcomed by them; why should we any 
longer fawn! upon our deadly doom ? 

Cu. Do so now, while it is in thy power ; since the demon, 
that may alter with a distant shifting of his temper, will 
perchance come with a gentler air; but now he still rages. 

Er. Ay, for the curses of Cidipus have raged beyond all 
bounds; and too true were my visions of phantoms seen in 
my slumbers, dividers of my father’s wealth.? 

Cu. Yield thee to women, albeit that thou lovest them not, 

Er. Say ye then what one may allow you; but it must not 
be at length. 

Cu. Go not thou on in this way to the seventh gate. 

Er. Whetted as I am, thou wilt not blunt me by argu- 
ment. 

Cu. Yet god, at all events, honors an inglorious victory. 

Er. It ill becomes a warrior to acquiesce in this advice. 

Cu. What! wilt thou shed the blood of thine own 
brother ? 

Er. By heaven’s leave, he shall not elude destruction. 

[ Exit ErrocuEs. 

Cu. I shudder with dread that the power that lays waste 
this house, not like the gods, the all-true, the evil-boding 
Erinnys summoned by the curses of the father, is bringing 


No more the thirsty Erinnys of this soil 
Shall daub her lips with her own children’s blood. 
OLD TRANSLATOR, 
1 See above, v. 383. 
2 Somewhat to the same effect is the dream of Atossa in 
ithe Perse. 


722-752.] AGAINST THEBES, 81 


to a consummation the wrathful curses of distracted CEdipus.* 
’Tis this quarrel, fatal to his sons, that arouses her. And 
the Chalybian stranger, emigrant from Scythia, is appor- 
tioning their shares, a fell divider of possessions, the stern- 
hearted steel,? allotting them land to occupy, just as much 
as it may be theirs to possess when dead, bereft of their 
large domains.* When they shall have fallen, slain by each 
other’s hands in mutual slaughter, and the dust of the ground 
shall have drunk up the black-clotted blood of murder, who 
will furnish expiation? who will purify them? Alas for 
the fresh troubles mingled with the ancient horrors of this 
family ! for I speak of the ancient transgression with its 
speedy punishment ; yet it abides unto the third generation; 
since Laius, in spite of Apollo, who had thrice declared, in 
the central oracles of Pytho, that, dying without issue, he 
would save the state,* did, notwithstanding, overcome by 
his friends, in his infatuation beget his own destruction, the 
parricide CEdipus, who dared to plant in an unhallowed 


1 I prefer Blomfield’s transposition to Dindorf’s correction, 
Br\avippsvws, which, though repudiated in the notes, is still 
adopted by Paley. 

2 A noble impersonation of the sword. 

3 Shakespeare, King John, Act 4, se. 2: 

That blood, which own’d the breadth of all this isle, 
Three foot of it doth hold. 
King Henry IV. part I. Act 5, se. 5: 
Fare thee well, great heart! 
Til-weav’d ambition, how much art thou shrunk! 
When that this body did contain a spirit, 
Akingdom for it was too small a bound ; 
But now, two paces of the vilest earth 
Is room enough. 

4 Surely the full stop after 76A/v in v.'749 should be removed, 
and a colon, or mark of hyperbaton substituted. On looking at 
Paley’s edition, I find myself anticipated. 


82 THE SEVEN — [753-790: 


field, where he had been reared, a bloody root.—’Twas 
frenzy linked the distracted pair; and as it were, a sea of 
troubles brings on one billow that subsides, and rears another 
triply cloven, which too dashes about the stern of our state. 
But between [it and us] there stretches a fence at a small 
interval, a tower in width alone.t And I fear lest the city 
should be overcome along with its princes. For the execra- 
tions, that were uttered long ago, are finding their accom- 
plishment: bitter is the settlement, and deadly things in 
their consummation pass not away. The wealth of enter- 
prising merchants,” too thickly stowed, brings with it a cast- 
ing overboard from the stern. For whom of mortals did the 
gods, and his fellow-inmates in the city, and the many lives 
of herding men,* admire so much as they then honored 
(Edipus, who had banished from the realm the baneful pest 
that made men her prey. But when he unhappy was ap- 
prised of his wretched marriage, despairing in his sorrow, 
with frenzied heart, he perpetrated a two-fold horror; he 
deprived himself with parricidal hand of the eyes that were 
more precious than his children. And indignant because of 
his scanty supply of food,* he sent upon his sons, alas! alas! 
acurse horrible in utterance, even that they should some 
time or other share his substance between them with sword- 
wielding hand; and now I tremble lest the swift Erinnys 
should be on the point of fulfilling that prayer. 


1 This is Griffiths’ version of this awkward passage. I should 
prefer reading d\xav with Paley, from one MS. So also Burges. 

2 See my note on Soph. Philoct. 708, ed. Bohn. 

5 This seems the best way of rendering the bold periphrase, 
& ro\\Borog aidy Bporwry. See Griffiths. 

4 I follow Paley. Diuadurf,in his notes, agrees in reading 
tpo dds, but the metre seems to require éixoro$. Griffiths de- 
fends the common reading, but against the ancient authority 
of the schol. on Cid. Col, 1375. See Blomfield. 


791-809. ] AGAINST THEBES. 83 


Re-enter MESSENGER. 

Be of good cheer, maidens that have been nurtured by 
your mothers.! This city hath escaped the yoke of servi- 
tude; the vauntings of our mighty foes have fallen; and our 
city is calm, and hath not admitted a leak from the many 
buffets of the surge; our fortification too stands proof, and 
we have fenced our gates with champions fighting single- 
handed, and bringing surety ; for the most part, at six of 
our gates, it is well; but the seventh, the revered lord of 
the seventh, sovereign Apollo, chose for himself, bringing 
to a consummation the ancient indiscretions of Laius. 

Cu. And what new event is happening to our city? 

Mes. These men have fallen by hands that dealt mutual 
slaughter.?— 

Cu. Who? What is it thou sayest! I am distracted 
with terror at thy tidings. 

Mes. Now be calm and listen, the race of CEdipus— 

Cu. Alas for me wretched ! I am a prophetess of horrors. 

Mes. Stretched in the dust are they beyond all dispute. 

Cu. Came they even to that? bitter then are thy tidings, 
yet speak them. 

Mes. Even thus [too surely] were they destroyed by 
brotherly hands. 

Cu. Even thus was the demon at once impartial to both. 


1 Blomfield with reason thinks that a verse has been lost. 

2 The care which the Messenger takes to show the bright 
side of the picture first, reminds us of Northumberland’s 
speech, Shakespeare, King Henry IV. part II. Act 1, sc. 1: 

This thou would’st say—Your son did thus and thus; ‘ 

Your brother, thus; so fought the noble Douglas; 

Stopping my greedy ear with their bold deeds; 

But in the end, to stop mine ear indeed, 

Thou hast a sigh to blow away this praise, 

Ending with—brother, son, and all are dead.—OLp TRANSL. 


84 THE SEVEN [810-828, 


Mes. And he himself, to be sure of this, is cutting off the 
ill-fated race. 

Cu. Over such events one may both rejoice and weep— 
[rejoice] at the success of our city—but [mourn because}! 
our princes, the two generals, have portioned out the whole 
possession of their substance with the hammer-wrought 
Scythian steel, and they will possess of land just as much as 
they receive at their burial, carried off according to the un- 
happy imprecations of their sire. 

Mes. The city is rescued, but earth hath drank the blood 
of the brother princes through their slaughter of each other. 

[ Exit MESSENGER.” 

Cx. Oh mighty Jove! and tutelary divinities of our city ! 
ye that do in very deed protect these towers of Cadmus, am 
I to rejoice and raise a joyous hymn to the savior of our city, 
the averter of mischief, or shall I bewail the miserable and 
ill-fated childless? commanders, who, in very truth, cor- 
rectly, according to their name,‘ full of rancor, have per- 


1 This is a good example of the figure chiasmus, the force of 
which I have expressed by the bracketed words repeated from 
the two infinities. See Latin examples in the notes of Arntze- 
nius on Mamertin. Geneth. 8, p. 27; Pang. Vett. t. i. 

2 The Messenger retires to dress for the Herald’s part. 

Horace’s rule, “ Nec quarta loqui persona laboret,’’ seems to 
have been drawn from the practice of the Greek stage. Only 
three actors were allowed to each of the competitor-dramatists, 
and these were assigned to them by lot. (Hesychius, Néunos 
uroxptrav.) Thus, for instance, as is remarked by a writer in 
the Quarterly Review, in the Gidipus at Colonus, v. 509, Is- 
mene goes to offer sacrifice, and, after about forty lines, returns 
in the character of Theseus. Soon afterward, vy. 847, Antigone 
is carried off by Creon’s attendants, and returns as Theseus 
after about the same. interval as before.—OLD TRANSLATION, 
The translator had misquoted the gloss of Hesychius. 

3 This is the tragic account. See Soph. Antig. 170, sqq.; 
Eurip. Phen. 757, sqq. But other authors mention descend- 
ants of both. # Another pun on Hodvvecxis, 


829-865.] AGAINST THEBES. 85 


ished in impious purpose? Oh dark and fatal curse of the 
race and of CEdipus, what horrible chill is this that is falling 
upon my heart?! I, like a Thyiad, have framed a dirge for 
the tomb, hearing of the dead, dabbled in blood, that per- 
ished haplessly—verily this meeting of spears was ill-omened. 
The imprecation of the father hath taken full effect, and 
hath not failed: and the unbelieving schemes of Laius have 
lasted even until now ; and care is through our city, and the 
divine declarations lose not their edge—Alas! worthy of 
many a sigh, ye have accomplished this horror surpassing 
credence; and lamentable sufferings have come indeed. 
This is self-evident, the tale of the messenger is before my 
eyes—Double are our sorrows, double are the horrors of them 
that have fallen by mutual slaughter; doubly shared are 
these consummated sufferings. What shall I say? What, 
but that of a certainty troubles on troubles are constant in- 
mates of this house? But, my friends, ply the speeding 
stroke of your hands about your heads, before the gale of 
sighs, which ever wafts on its passage the bark, on which no 
sighs are heard, with sable sails, the freighted with the 
dead, untrodden for Apollo, the sunless, across Acheron, and 
to the invisible all-receiving shore.” 

But [enough]! for here are coming to this bitter office 
both Antigone and Ismene. I am assured beyond all doubt 
that they will send forth a fitting wail from their lovely 
deep-cinctured bosoms. And fight it is that we, before the 

1 Cf. Romeo and Juliet, Act 4, sec. 3: 

“T have a faint cold fear thrills through my veins.” 

? This passage is confessedly corrupt. Paley seems to have 
rightly restored dsrodov from the &crodov Gcwpida in Robertelli’s 
edition. This ship, as he remarks, would truly be derodos, in 
opposition to the one sent to Delphi, which was properly said 
crédXecOa txi Gewpiay, The words dorifi’ z6\\ov confirm this 


apinion. In regard to the allusions, see Stanley and mioeiele 
also Wyttenbach on Plato Phedon. sub. init, 


5 


86 THE SEVEN [ 866-907. 


sound of their wailing reach us, both ejaculate the dismal- 
sounding chaunt of Erinnys, and sing a hateful pean to 
Pluto. Alas! ye that are the most hapless in your sister- 
hood of all women that fling the zone around their robes, I 
weep, I mourn, and there is no guile about so as not to be 
truly wailing from my very soul. 

Sremi-CHorvs. Alas! alas! ye frantic youths, distrustful 
of friends, and unsubdued by troubles, have wretched seized 
on your paternal dwelling with the spear. 

Sremi-Cu. Wretched in sooth were they who found a 
wretched teath to the bane of their houses. 

Semi-Cu. Alas! alas! ye that overthrew the walls of 
your palace, and having cast an eye on bitter monarchy, how 
have ye now settled your claims with the steel ? 

Semi-Cu. And too truly hath awful Erinnys brought [the 
curses] of their father (idipus to a consummation. 

Semi-Cu. Smitten through your left—Smitten in very 
truth, and through sides that sprung from a common womb. 

Semi-Cu. Alas for them, wretched! Alas! for the impre- 
cations of death which avenged murder by murder. 

Semi-Cu. Thou speakest of the stroke that pierced through 
and through those that were smitten in their houses and in 
their persons with speechless rage, and the doom of discord 
brought upon them by the curses of their father. 

Semi-Cu. And moreover, sighing pervades the city, the 
towers sigh, the land that loved her heroes sighs; and for 
posterity remains the substance by reason of which, by rea- 
son of which,‘ contention came upon them whom evil des- 
tiny, and the issue of death. 

Sem1-Cu. In the fierceness of their hearts they divided 

1 This repetition of 0’ dy is not altogether otiose. Their con- 


tention for estate was the cause both of their being aivépopo: and 
of the vetxos that ensued. 


908-950.] AGAINST THEBES. 87 


between them the possessions, so as to have an equal share; 
but the arbiter’ escapes not censure from their friends, and 
joyless was their warfare. 

Semi-Cu. Smitten by the steel, here they lie; and smitten 
by the steel? there await them—one may perchance ask what? 
—the inheritance of the tombs of their fathers. 

Semi-Cu. From the house the piercing groan sends forth 
its sound loudly over them, mourning with a sorrow suffer- 
ings as o’er its own, melancholy, a foe to mirth, sincerely 
weeping from the very soul, which is worn down while I 
wail for these two princes. 

Semi-Cu. We may say too of these happy men that they 
both wrought many mischiefs to their countrymen, and to 
the ranks of all the strangers, that perished in great num- 
bers in battle. 

Semi-Cu. Il-fated was she that bare them before all wo- 
men, as many as are mothers of children. Having taken to 
herself her own son for a husband, she brought forth these, 
and they have ended their existence thus by fraternal hands 
that dealt mutual slaughter. 

Sremi-Cu. Fraternal in very truth! and utterly undone 
were they by a severing in no wise amicable, by frenzied 
strife at the consummation of their feud. 

Semi-Cz. But their emnity is terminated; and in the 
reeking earth is their life-blood mingled, and truly are they 
of the same blood. A bitter arbiter of strife is the stranger 
from beyond the sea, the whetted steel that bounded forth 
from the fire ; and bitter is the horrible distributer of their 
substance, Mars, who hath brought the curse of their father 
truly to its consummation. 


1 Te. the sword. Cf. v. 885. 


2 This epithet applied to their ancestral tombs doubtless al- 
ludes to the violent deaths of Laius and Cdipus. 


88 THE SEVEN [951-975. 


Semi-Cu. Hapless youths! They have obtained their por- 
tion of heaven-awarded woes, and beneath their bodies shall 
be a fathomless wealth of earth. Alas! ye that have made 
your houses bloom with many troubles! And at its fall 
these Curses raised the shout of triumph in shrill strain, 
when the race had been put to flight in total rout; a trophy 
of Até has been reared at the gate at which they smote each 
other, and, having overcome both, the demon rested. 

Enter ANTIGONE and IsMENE. 

Ant. When wounded thou didst wound again.? 

Ism. And thou, having dealt death, didst perish. 

Ant. With the spear thou didst slay. 

Ism. By the spear thou didst fall. 

Ant. Wretched in thy deeds ! 

Ism. Wretched in thy sufferings ! 

Ant. Let tears arise. 

Ism. Let groans resound. 

Ant. Having slain, he shall lie prostrate. Alas! alas! 
my soul is maddening with sighs. 

Ism. And my heart mourns within me. 

Ant. Alas! thou that art worthy of all lamentation! 

Ism. And thou again also utterly wretched. 

Ant. By a friend didst thou fall. 

Ism. And a friend didst thou slay. 

Ant. Double horrors to tell of. 

Ism. Double horrors to behold ! 

1 On the enallage cdpar: for cdpact see Griffiths, The poet 
means to say that this will be all their possession after death. 
Still Blomfield’s reading, xépar1, seems more elegant and satis- 
factory- 

2 Pauw remarks that Polynices is the chief subject of Anti- 
gone’s mourning, while Ismene bewails Eteocles. This may 
illustrate much of the following dialogue, as well as explain 


whence Sophocles derived his master-piece of character, the 
Theban martyr-heroine, Antigone. 


976-1000, ] AGAINST THEBES. 89 


Ant. These horrors are near akin to such sorrows. 

Ism. And we their sisters here are near to our brothers. 

Cx. Alas! thou Destiny, awarder of bitterness, wretched t 
and thou dread shade of CEdipus! and dark Erinnys! verily 
art thou great in might. 

Ant. Alas! alas! sufferings dismal to behold hath he 
shown to me after his exile. 

Ant. And he returned not when he had slain him. 

Ism. No—but after being saved he lost his life. 

Ant. In very truth he lost it. 

Ism. Ay, and he cut off his brother. 

Ant. Wretched family ! 

Ism. That hath endured wretchedness. Woes that are 
wretched and of one name. Thoroughly steeped in three- 
fold sufferings. 

Ant. Deadly to tell— 

Ism. Deadly to look on. 

Cu. Alas! alas! thou Destiny, awarder of bitterness, 
wretched! and thou dread shade of CEdipus! and dark 
Erinnys! verily art thou great in might. 

Ant. Thou in sooth knowest this by passing through it. 

Ism. And so dost thou, having learned it just as soon as he. 

Ant. After that thou didst return to the city. 

Ism. An antagonist too to this man here in battle-fray, 

Ant. Deadly to tell. 

Ism. Deadly to look on. 

Ant. Alas! the trouble. 

Ism. Alas! the horrors upon our family and our land, 
and me above all. 

Ant. Alas! alas! and me, be sure, more than all. 

Isr. Alas! alas! for the wretched horrors! O sovereign 
Eteocles, our chieftain ! 

Ant. Alas! ye most miserable of all men. 


5* 


go THE SEVEN [1001-1025. 


Ism. Alas! ye possessed by Até. 

Ant. Alas! alas! where in the land shall we place them 
both? Alas! in the spot that is most honorable. Alas! 
alas ! a woe fit to sleep beside my father.? 

Enter HERALD. 

’Tis my duty to announce the good pleasure and the de- 
cree of the senators of the people of this city of Cadmus. It 
is resolved to bury this body of Eteocles for his attachment 
- to his country, with the dear interment in earth! for in re- 
pelling our foes he met death in the city, and being pure in 
respect to the sacred rites of his country, blameless hath he 
fallen where ’tis glorious for the young to fall; thus, indeed, 
hath it been commissioned me to announce concerning this 
corpse: But [it has been decreed] to cast out unburied, a 
prey for dogs, this the corpse of his brother Polynices, inas- 
much as he would have been the overturner of the land of 
Cadmus, if some one of the gods had not stood in opposition 
to his spear : and even now that he is dead, he will lie under 
the guilt of pollution with the gods of his country, whom he 
having dishonored was for taking the city by bringing against 
it a foreign host. So it is resolved that he, having been 
buried dishonorably by winged fowls, should receive his 
recompense, and that neither piling up by hands of the 
mound over his tomb should follow, nor any one honor him 
with shrill-voiced wailings, but that he be ungraced with a 
funeral at the hands of his friends. Such is the decree of 
the magistracy of the Cadmeans. 


1 Throughout this scene I have followed Dindorf’s text, al- 
though many improvements have been made in the disposition 
of the dramatis persone. Every one will confess that the 
length of i® « commonplaces in this scene would be much 
against the play, but for the animated conclusion, a conclusion, 
however, that must lose all its finest interest to the reader who 
is unacquainted with the Antigone of Sophocles! 


1026-1049. ] AGAINST THEBES. 91 


Ant. But I say to the rulers of the Cadmeans, if not an- 
other single person is willing to take part with me in bury- 
ing him, I will bury him, and will expose myself! to peril 
by burying my brother., And I feel no shame at being 
guilty of this disobedient insubordination against the city. 
Powerful is the tie of the common womb from Which we 
sprung, from a wretched mother and a hapless sire. Where- 
fore, my soul, do thou, willing with the willing share in his 
woes, with the dead, thou living, with sisterly feeling—and 
nought shall lean-bellied wolves tear his flesh—let no one 
suppose it. All woman though I be, I will contrive a tomb 
and a deep-dug grave for him, bearing earth in the bosom- 
fold of my fine linen robe, and I myself will cover him ; let 
none imagine the contrary: an effective scheme shall aid 
my boldness. 

Her. I bid thee not to act despite the state in this 
matter. 

Ant. I bid thee not announce to me superfluous things. 

Her. Yet stern is a people that has just escaped troubles. 

Ant. Ay, call it stern’—yet this [corpse] shall not lie 
unburied. 

Her. What! wilt thou honor with a tomb him whom our 
state abhors ?° 

Ant. Heretofore he has not been honored by the gods. 


1 Wellauer (not Scholfield, i het says) defends the com- 
mon reading from Herodot. V 

2 rpdxeve But T. Burgess’ pl ENS tpaxés ye seems better, 
and is approved by Blomfield. 

3 Soph. Ant. 44, i yap vosts Odrrew og’ dxéppnrov réXet, 

4 I have taken Griffiths’ translation of what Dindorf rightly 
calls “lectio vitiosa,” and of stuff that no sane person can be- 
lieve came from the hand of #schylus. Paley, who has often 
seen the truth where all others have failed, ingeniously sup- 

that od is a mistaken insertion, and, omitting it, takes 
tarériynrat in this sense: “jam hic non amplius a diis honoratur ; 


92 THE SEVEN AGAINST THEBES. [.1050-1078 


Her. Not so, at least before he put this realm in jeop- 
ardy. 

Ant. Having suffered injuriously he repaid with injury. 

Her. Ay, but this deed of his fell on all instead of one. 

Ant. Contention is the last of the gods to finish a dis- 
pute,’ and I will bury him ; make no more words. 

Her. Well, take thine own way—yet I forbid thee. 

[Exit HERALD. 

Cu. Alas! alas! O ye fatal Furies, proudly triumphant, 
and destructive to this race, ye that have ruined the family 
of Gidipus from its root. What will become of me? What 
shall Ido? What can I devise? How shall I have the 
heart neither to bewail thee nor to escort thee to the tomb? 
But I dread and shrink from the terror of the citizens. 
Thou, at all events, shalt in sooth have many mourners; 
but he, wretched one, departs unsighed for, having the 
solitary-wailing dirge of his sister. Who will agree to 
this? 

Sem. Let the state do or not do aught to those who bewail 
Polynices. We, on this side will go and join to escort his 
funeral procession ; for both this sorrow is common to the 
race, and the state at different times sanctions different 
maxims of justice. 

Sem. But we will go with this corpse, as both the city 
and justice join to sanction. For next to the Immortals and 
the might of Jove, this man prevented the city of the Cad- 
means from being destroyed, and thoroughly overwhelmed 
by the surge of foreign enemies. 
ergo ego eum honorabo.” See his highly satisfactory note, to 
which I will only add that the reasoning of the Antigone of 
Sophocles, vss. 515, sqq. gives ample confirmation to his view of 
this passage. 
ae ‘ae gat would either omit this verse, or assign it to the 


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